Indian Students Stranded In Sumy Are Melting Snow To Drink Water, As They Wait Evacuation

The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Sunday asked all Indians who are still stuck in the conflict-stricken country to fill up an online form on an urgent basis.

"All Indian nationals who still remain in Ukraine are requested to fill up the details contained in the attached Google Form on an URGENT BASIS. Be Safe Be Strong," it said in a tweet.

All Indian nationals who still remain in Ukraine are requested to fill up the details contained in the attached Google Form on an URGENT BASIS .

Be Safe Be Strong @opganga@MEAIndia@PIB_India@DDNewslive@DDNationalhttps://t.co/4BrBuXbVbz

¡ª India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) March 6, 2022

The details sought in the Google form are name, e-mail, phone number, address of current stay, passport details, gender and age.

In the Google form, the embassy has also asked for indicating the current location of the Indians stranded in Ukraine.

Photo shared by students

A list of locations has been provided in the form and an option given to select the location from it.

The locations mentioned in the online form are Cherkassy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Kirovograd, Kyiv, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv and Odessa.

The list also includes Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Vinnytsya, Volyn, Zakarpattya, Zaporozhzhya and Zhytomyr.

The Indian embassy in Hungary also put out a tweet.

"Important Announcement: Embassy of India begins its last leg of Operation Ganga flights today. All those students staying in their OWN accommodation (other than arranged by Embassy) are requested to reach @Hungariacitycentre, Rakoczi Ut 90, Budapest between 10 am-12 pm," it said.

Important Announcement: Embassy of India begins its last leg of Operation Ganga flights today. All those students staying in their OWN accommodation ( other than arranged by Embassy) are requested to reach @Hungariacitycentre , Rakoczi Ut 90, Budapest between 10 am-12 pm

¡ª Indian Embassy in Hungary (@IndiaInHungary) March 6, 2022

This comes even as hundreds of Indian students continue to be stranded in Sumy

They had earlier decided to walk to the Russian border amid intense fighting in the region.

The students said they could no longer cope with the nail-biting cold, depleting food supplies and having to melt snow to get drinking water.

Critical Water Shortage in Sumy ?

This is how Indian students in Sumy are getting drinking water. They are collecting rain & snow runoff from roof of the hostel, boiling it & drinking.

Shivangi said yesterday they waited in line for hours in freezing temp for water supply. pic.twitter.com/T3kkfElq34

¡ª Brendan Dabhi (@BrendanMIRROR) March 5, 2022

Around 700 Indian students are still stuck in the war-hit region, their evacuation hampered by the continuous fighting in the area.

The students said they have run out of food and water.

Situation in Sumy (Ukraine) continues to be grave. They are stuck without food and water.. melts snow. Students are calling. High time the Govt acts.@MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar #OperationGanga pic.twitter.com/ZcCnGenolT

¡ª John Brittas (@JohnBrittas) March 5, 2022

The students have released several desperate videos on social media, saying they have decided to undertake the potentially fatal journey to the Russian border, some 50km from where they are, sending shockwaves in New Delhi.

They said they hope they would be picked up by Indian authorities from the Russians border.

Photo shared by students

"We are afraid. We have awaited a lot and we cannot wait anymore. We are risking our life. We are moving towards the border. If anything happens to us, all the responsibility will be on the government and Indian embassy," a student, surrounded by a large number of his peers holding Indian flags, says in one of the videos.

In another video, students are seen filling up buckets with ice as they ran out of drinking water.

Sumy Students gathering snow to melt to drink a sip as there has b§Öen no water in a day and every student and there families are worried about their well being Electricity supply isnt stable and in this minus temp.#PMOIndia #BJP #Modi #NDTV #aajtak pic.twitter.com/kHWgkI3M8A

¡ª Deepesh goud (@dpggoud98) March 4, 2022

This prompted the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to urge them to stay inside shelters and avoid taking unnecessary risks.

"We are deeply concerned about Indian students in Sumy, Ukraine. Have strongly pressed Russian and Ukrainian governments through multiple channels for an immediate ceasefire to create a safe corridor for our students," MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

After the statement, the group of students have halted their journey for now.

AFP

"We had already started moving after we gave up hope on the government coming to our rescue. But now with the new advisory, we are confused whether we should take the risk at all. I am so so scared," said Md Nizamuddin Aman, a first-year MBBS student at Sumy State University.

India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, nearly 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine's borders since advisories were issued over a fortnight back.

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