KOCHI: Hundreds of Malayali students pursuing various courses in Ukraine were not bothered much about the looming threats of a Russian invasion until Wednesday night. However, the situation turned upside down overnight, especially for those residing in the capital city Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city, as most of those students woke up to loud blasts when the Russian forces started the missile attacks.
“I heard a loud sound in my sleep around 4am but did not bother much as there was no war when I went to bed on Wednesday night. But later on the frequency and loudness of the sounds increased and I woke up when our building started shaking. Then also we thought it could be an earthquake. But when we got out checking, we saw flames and smoke in the distance. Air raid sirens were heard everywhere and everyone started panicking,” said Rahul Biju, a native of Kottayam and a medical student of V N Karazin Kharkiv National University.
“We are literally stranded here. Our agents asked us to stay calm and gather all our friends, including girls. They said they are arranging evacuation. The ATMs are not working and taxi services have stopped. We collected essentials and made travel emergency kits in case we have to leave Kharkiv without prior notice. We are currently cooped up in a nearby underground metro station, which is fully dark, as alerts were issued about a possible bombing in our area. We are on our own and are not safe. We hope the government will do something,” Rahul said.
Fawas Usman Alikkal from Pattambi, who studies at Uzhhorod national university, which is so far in the safe zone, said that some of the students from Kyiv and Kharkiv are planning to move to Western Ukraine by land as the Indian embassy issued advisory regarding a possible evacuation via other European countries.
