It’s -7 degrees. I am feeling cold. I don’t know what to do.” This message from an Indian medical student stuck in Ukraine’s border Poland summarized the plight and desperation of hundreds like him, who were making a dangerous dash to safety but were left stranded without shelter, food and money in the cold, and their phones dying fast.
Their families asked students to rent private vehicles and head north in Ternopil on Friday to return home as the Indian embassy told them to arrive. Ukraineborder with either Poland or Hungary as the evacuation will begin from there.
More followed that route and now hundreds of them were stranded at the border on Saturday night without food, shelter and water because Ukraine’s border guards were not allowing them through the check points. They alleged that the guards were only allowing Russian, Polish and Ukrainian nationals to pass through the border and were demanding a $200 bribe from each Indian student to make the crossing. He also alleged that the Indian Embassy officials are also not listening to him.
“I was asked to reach the border and now these people are not allowing us to enter. We are at gunpoint. The police have asked us not to take any video of the situation.” Shubham Meshram (22) of Bhopal, one of the group that made the 12-hour journey from Ternopil to the Polish border.
“We will try again. Otherwise, we will have to return to Ternopil,” he said, urging the Indian government to save him. The families of three students from Haryana stranded on the Ukraine-Poland border on February 25 alleged “misguided advice” from the Indian embassy. “The embassy said that Indians are being rescued from Ukraine through Poland, so they should reach the Polish border. After that, they spend 600 hryvnia (about Rs 1500) per student and walk about 45 km to Ukraine-Poland. They reached the border. But now they are not being allowed to cross the border.’
He added that Ukraine’s immigration authorities have turned him back saying: “When your government hasn’t cooperated with us, why should we cooperate with you.” In addition, many students’ passports were destroyed or lost in the chaos.
Students from Kerala were stuck at the Shehani-Medyaka border crossing on Saturday. Mohamed Ziad of Kalamassery said, “Shehani is about 80 km from Lviv. We had to walk about 20 km to reach here. We went to another checkpoint, where we were told that we could only cross by vehicles. ” Chandramohan Nellore, a migrant from Kerala in Poland, said that people are calling him from Ukraine. “Some of our students said that when they (guards) see Indians, they are pushed aside.” About eight students from Odisha boarded packed buses in Ternopil for Romania as per the advice of the Indian authorities.
(inputs Ramendra Singh Kumar Mukesh in Bhopal in Hisar, Neelkamal in bathinda, Sushil Rao in Hyderabad, Naomi Canton in London and TNN in Kochi, Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad)
Watch Ukraine Crisis: Hours of endless walk, cold night, Indian students stranded on the border of Poland
Their families asked students to rent private vehicles and head north in Ternopil on Friday to return home as the Indian embassy told them to arrive. Ukraineborder with either Poland or Hungary as the evacuation will begin from there.
More followed that route and now hundreds of them were stranded at the border on Saturday night without food, shelter and water because Ukraine’s border guards were not allowing them through the check points. They alleged that the guards were only allowing Russian, Polish and Ukrainian nationals to pass through the border and were demanding a $200 bribe from each Indian student to make the crossing. He also alleged that the Indian Embassy officials are also not listening to him.
“I was asked to reach the border and now these people are not allowing us to enter. We are at gunpoint. The police have asked us not to take any video of the situation.” Shubham Meshram (22) of Bhopal, one of the group that made the 12-hour journey from Ternopil to the Polish border.
“We will try again. Otherwise, we will have to return to Ternopil,” he said, urging the Indian government to save him. The families of three students from Haryana stranded on the Ukraine-Poland border on February 25 alleged “misguided advice” from the Indian embassy. “The embassy said that Indians are being rescued from Ukraine through Poland, so they should reach the Polish border. After that, they spend 600 hryvnia (about Rs 1500) per student and walk about 45 km to Ukraine-Poland. They reached the border. But now they are not being allowed to cross the border.’
He added that Ukraine’s immigration authorities have turned him back saying: “When your government hasn’t cooperated with us, why should we cooperate with you.” In addition, many students’ passports were destroyed or lost in the chaos.
Students from Kerala were stuck at the Shehani-Medyaka border crossing on Saturday. Mohamed Ziad of Kalamassery said, “Shehani is about 80 km from Lviv. We had to walk about 20 km to reach here. We went to another checkpoint, where we were told that we could only cross by vehicles. ” Chandramohan Nellore, a migrant from Kerala in Poland, said that people are calling him from Ukraine. “Some of our students said that when they (guards) see Indians, they are pushed aside.” About eight students from Odisha boarded packed buses in Ternopil for Romania as per the advice of the Indian authorities.
(inputs Ramendra Singh Kumar Mukesh in Bhopal in Hisar, Neelkamal in bathinda, Sushil Rao in Hyderabad, Naomi Canton in London and TNN in Kochi, Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad)
Watch Ukraine Crisis: Hours of endless walk, cold night, Indian students stranded on the border of Poland
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