Desperate, Indian Students Reach Poland Border To Flee Ukraine, Pushed Back By Security
Hundreds of Indian students who were studying in the Ukrainian city of Lviv moved to a border near Poland on February 25 and February 26.?Parents of some students from Kerala confirmed that their children couldn¡¯t cross the Ukrainian border to reach Poland, where they expected to be evacuated.
Around 300 students, mostly from the cities of Lviv and Ternopil in Ukraine, took taxis and buses, hitchhiked, or walked to reach Shehyni-Medyka border after the Indian Embassy in Warsaw issued an advisory asking those who wished to be evacuated to reach
Students being forced back into Ukraine
As per the students, braving the freezing cold, they had not been allowed to cross the border by Polish authorities.
As per TNM reports, students at the Ukraine-Poland border have sent out videos alleging that Ukrainian soldiers and police are forcing them back into Ukraine from the border of Poland by firing in the air and attempting to drive their cars into the crowd. They have also alleged that they have been beaten and kicked.
Expressing concern about the safety of the students, sheltered in an old school about 12 km from the Shehyni border crossing between Ukraine and Poland, Jofi Joseph of Kannara, parent of Catherine Jofi, one of the stranded students, says students do not have sufficient food or water to survive.
Stuck, they express their ordeal
¡°These students are sitting on the road waiting to cross the border, but they have not been able to do it. Their supplies are running low and they don't even have enough water,¡± Malaysia's PM Najeeb, whose son Muhammed Jiyad is in the group, told TNM.
Angel, a Malayali student, can be heard saying on a video that she and her friend were pushed and beaten. Adding that the police tried to ram their vehicles into the group of students, Angel said that they Ukrainian soldiers did not care that students fell. ¡°This is too bad, this is not the way that the Ukraine government or military should treat foreign citizens. This is not how we expect help," she told TNM.
While multiple reports confirm that Indian students are stranded at Poland border, reports of vehicles being rammed into them and being beaten up by security cannot be independently confirmed by India Times.
Indian embassy's latest advisory?
The Indian Embassy¡¯s latest advisory tells Indians in Ukraine to not go to border areas yet. While some evacuation efforts have begun, the Indian government is not operating flights from Ukraine as all airports are closed inside the country, but from neighbouring countries like Poland and Romania. However, travelling to these countries is a dangerous prospect at this point.
