Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Indian Students Say ‘Rescue us!’, Hiding in Ukraine Bunkers

As Russian forces advanced further into Ukraine, a small number of Indian medical students within Kharkiv, Ukraine, hid in a dark cellar beneath their apartment building throughout the night, amid a barrage of explosives.

Students upload footage from bunkers, and the mayor issues an air-bombing alert for the next 4-5 hours.

Amid Russia’s bombs on Ukraine, students are sheltering in bunkers and pleading for aid over the phone and through video footage shared with Free Press by a few of the students, requesting the government to be saved from Ukraine and sent home.

According to Aashi Sharma, a 5th medical student from Ujjain, “There was news of the Russian attack from the past one month. The US president asked his citizens to leave Ukraine immediately and opened the Poland borders for them. They shifted their embassy to Poland. The universities in Ukraine continued to take offline classes, despite our parents’ concern. When the Indian embassy issued the advisory, it was a tad bit too late.”

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According to a student, they had been in the bunkers since last night at 11.30 p.m. (Ukraine time). To prevent the notice of the air-bombers, the mayor immediately issued a directive to rush to a safe location and turn out the lights. They’ve been advised that a bombing could happen within the next 4-5 hours. She said, “We are really scared and need to be rescued. The Indian government, please help us.”

Another pupil, Aabhas Parihar, who was refused boarding on February 22 from Laviv due to a vaccination certificate error, states, “We should have been in India right now. But we are in bunkers. I hope the Indian government works with everyone concerned to rescue us from here. We are in a situation where we cannot even leave our homes. Everything is closed. Our friends in Kyiv and Kharkiv are taking shelter at metro stations under the ground. We do not know what we should do.”

He was joined by his Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh-based friend Satyam Sabbarwal.

According to a parent from Jabalpur whose daughter is still in Ukraine, while some families are welcoming their children’s homecoming, others are worried about their safety.

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