Indian student's fearful experience from Ukraine's Kharkiv where Russian troops are on streets now

New Delhi: Khwaish Thapa of Jammu and Kashmir who is one of the thousands of Indian students stranded in Ukraine was to board the flight back to her motherland on February 25 is now in a shelter with 500 other students in the war-torn country's Kharkiv city.

19-year-old Khwaish told Wion how her life took an unusual turn as Russia invaded Ukraine. Just before switching off her phone for security reasons the  Student of Kharkiv National Medical University said, "On February 23, I dropped my friend to the bus stand to board the flight back to India. I came back to my apartment. Until then it was just like any other day." 

Talking to Wion Khwaish said nobody around her thought events would spiral into a war-like situation before she went to bed that night and it was her father who broke the news for her.

"At 5 AM, it was my father who called from India to break the news to me. And that’s when I peeped from my window to see and hear sounds of bombardment. On checking my phone, my friends had also sent videos of what was happening around the city," she said.

Thapa said as the news broke the second-year medical student chose to go to the university hostel with friends but taxis were not available and after waiting for nearly an hour they caught a cab.

“Before going to the bunker, we tried to carry some food and water with us, but all the water tanks outside had run dry. There were long queues outside grocery stores, we took whatever was available - glucose, fruits, chocolates, wafers and readymade chapatis. Here at the college the basement, food and basics are looked after, while those who rushed to the metro stations are running out of supplies,” she told Wion.

Showing courage in times of crisis, Thapa said, “I am holding up well, here we are all helping each other to cope with the situation." But what concerns her more is that Kharkiv the place where she is sheltering in east Ukraine, closer to the Russian border, which could complicate matters.

Students who have been evacuated were from the western regions of Ukraine but it would take nearly 17 hours to even reach the border checkpoint of Poland, Hungary, or Romania from eastern Ukraine,  asserted Thapa.
"Though we’ve been made to understand that civilians will not be harmed, we have seen videos of apartments being bombed."

"My parents are worried, I’m making sure I keep them posted so they do not stress a lot." Talking about the country before crisis Thapa said, "Ukraine is a beautiful and peaceful country. It feels like home."

She further said that there are ample shops selling Indian goods and Kharkiv is a comfortable place to live in.
Calling Kharkiv "an easy-going and adaptable place," Thapa informed that even the pandemic times did not cause any crisis and went by peacefully in the city.

Thapa, her batchmates, and friends hope for the evacuation and want to reach their motherland as soon as possible as the situation in the country worsens.

 

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