With the escalation of conflict in Ukraine, several students from Gujarat stranded in war-torn areas of the country say they are being turned away at border checkpoints advised by the embassies for evacuation.
At the Shehyni-Medyka border between Ukraine and Poland, some Indian students have been stranded for over 72 hours to be cleared for evacuation.
A student from Vadodara told The Reporter, “We have been waiting in the freezing cold since Friday evening and the Ukrainian border guards are not allowing us to cross over to Poland… They have segregated the girls and boys. Some of the girls were allowed to go after 40 hours but thereafter, there has not been a single Indian allowed. They are hitting and kicking Indian students, who are asking questions and telling us to return to our universities. Some of us are injured too…”
Gyanisha Patel from Vadodara, who along with her friend cleared the Shehyni check post on Sunday, took close to 36 hours to exit from Ukraine on Monday evening. “We were made to wait even after being allowed to cross the check post. They were just not willing to stamp our passports for the exit. We have now reached Poland and are awaiting further instructions from the Embassy of India. We have been given to understand that since very few Indian students have been allowed to cross over, we are not a sufficient number for the repatriation flight to take off… Our friends back in Ukraine are at risk and we are worried about them.”
Further away in the Ukraine capital Kyiv, a fourth-year medical student from Vadodara said with the advisory from the Embassy of India, the students have decided to leave. “However, we are also terrified… We have heard that there have been attacks on Indian students in the other borders.”
Even as the Indian government ramped up its evacuation efforts and the foreign secretary called the Ukrainian ambassador to emphasise India's concern for citizens trapped in the war zone, several medical students alleged that they were harassed at checkpoints on
Ukraine's border with Poland. The students said they were kept in an almost hostage-like situation in the freezing cold and denied food, water, shelter or safe passage. They claimed that the border guards were abusing them because of India abstaining on a UNSC resolution against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The students shared videos of soldiers firing warning shots and using force to disperse them. In another clip, a Ukrainian guard was seen shoving away an Indian girl who fell on his feet and begged him to allow her to make the border crossing. Several students said Ukrainian residents have also turned hostile against them.
The war in Ukraine has sent Indian students studying in various universities there on a headlong flight to safety, but thousands of them have been left stranded on the border with Poland. They fled by train, car or bus, while some walked many miles through the night to reach the fenced-off border crossings, joining lines of tens of thousands of people desperate to escape the war. Hope everyone will return safe and sound.
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