Indians look for way out of east Ukraine, Russian officer says buses waiting across border

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A top Russian army officer, too, said his country was ready with 130 buses to help Indian students exit the battle zone through its borders.

The remarks by Russian National Defence Control Centre head Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the safe evacuation of Indians.

“A total of 130 comfortable buses are ready to depart to Kharkov (Kharkiv) and Sumy from the Nekhoteyevka and Sudzha checkpoints in the Belgorod Region since 6 am today in order to rescue Indian students and citizens of other foreign states,” Colonel-General Mizintsev was quoted as saying by the state-owned TASS news agency.

The Indian student, meanwhile, told The Indian Express over the phone from Sumy State University that the students had received no word from the Indian embassy on their evacuation, aside from an earlier communication asking them to stay put at the campus.

Mayuri Aher, 21, said: “Renish Joseph, who coordinates our dealings with the university, is the only person making efforts to rescue us. He informed us about buses to evacuate us from Sudzha, across the Russia border. But we need safe passage from our campus till Sudzha, which is 65 km away. We urge the Indian government to coordinate with the Ukraine authorities.”

Aher, who is from Mumbai, is among several students hunkered down at the university who have documented their terrifying ordeal in multiple videos, sharing details of shelling, gunfire and explosions. The war has left them stranded with depleting cash and supplies in cramped, freezing bunkers. Public transport is shut in the city and a curfew is in place.

She told The Indian Express on Thursday: “On Wednesday an explosion took place in a closed Arts school to the south of Sumy city. Today, we saw a huge explosion from our university, at around 7 pm local time. We were told it was close to a chemical factory.”

Aher and other students feel the eastern border makes for a relatively less arduous evacuation route.

Said Mumbai resident Shaikh Namira in one of the aforementioned videos: “We are stuck on the eastern side of Ukraine (in Sumy). We are surrounded by the Russian border on three sides and Kharkiv on one side. If we have to travel to the western border (where evacuation is being carried out by the Indian government), it is not at all safe. Throughout the day bombardments and shelling are taking place on the eastern side and we are very unsafe.”

Aher shared the message sent by their coordinator on Thursday, which reads: “Attention students. According to current information Indian authorities are in border of Sumy-Russia with buses (place – Sudzha) .! From Indian embassy in Ukraine and Ukrainian government still not given permission or clearance to travel.! Without the clearance if all students travel and if something happened then nobody will take responsibility.! So we cannot travel without permission.this is our only chance to evacuate from Sumy safely. Request to all students and parents to maximum share this information so that the higher authorities of India to consider this matter and to get immediate actions to get clearness for travel .!”

Colonel-General Mizintsev said places for temporary accommodation and rest have been set up at the checkpoints.

“The evacuees will be then transported to the city of Belgorod for subsequent departure to their homeland by air, including via Russian military airplanes,” he said.

Meanwhile, the students said in their videos that they have to rush to underground bunkers from their rooms every time they hear air raid sirens. Inside the cramped bunkers, health and hygiene, too, have become major issues — they do not have washrooms or water. Students say they are also running out of food supplies and money.

“We cannot step out to the grocery store to get supplies. Today morning we saw many snipers near our building and we were warned to stay away from the windows. We can be evacuated from the Russian border. We appeal to the Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rescue us,” said Namira.

On Thursday, students also reported seeing gunmen in civilian clothes inside their campus.

Aher said, “Even civilians are roaming around with rifles. Seeing it we get very scared. When we are in the bunkers our family cannot contact us.”
Another student, Mehtab, said: “When we peek outside our window we see Ukrainians holding arms. On Wednesday, we woke up to an explosion. We have heard we will be evacuated from the Russian border but no official has told us anything.”