'Ukrainian Officials Kicked Indians': UP Student Recounts Ordeal After Returning

Anshika, a third-year MBBS student in Ukraine's Vinnytsia, arrived in Delhi at around 11 pm on Tuesday and arrived home in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur on Wednesday.

Indian students arrived from Ukraine amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict (getty photo)

New Delhi: As the situation in Ukraine is becoming worse due to the continuous attack by Russia, Indian nationals attempting to leave Ukraine were "kicked" and "dragged" by authorities at the country's border, claimed an Indian student on Wednesday as quoted by news agency PTI. 

Anshika, a third-year MBBS student in Ukraine's Vinnytsia, arrived in Delhi at around 11 pm on Tuesday and arrived home in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur on Wednesday.

"I had given up all hopes of returning to India as the situation there was grave. All of us were consoling each other and sharing the pain," Anshika told PTI.

While she is thousands of kilometers away from the conflict-torn country, the sound of alarm blaring gives her the chills bringing back haunting memories of the demolition caused in the city along the Southern Bug river she once called home.

Anshika cannot stand the sound of a loud horn or a siren, according to her father Ameer Singh Yadav. 

Anshika said, on February 26, she alongside 50 other students boarded a bus from Vinnytsia to Chernivtsi and arrived at night after travelling for about 10 hours. Without waiting for dawn, they strolled six kilometers to arrive at the Romanian boundary.

"The sound of firing made us afraid. We were walking towards the Romania border and praying to God. In the desperation to cross the border, some students fell down and got hurt and were unable to walk. However, they carried on after taking the help of others," she said.

"At the border, the Ukrainian officials made those coming from Ternopil and Ivano cities cross the border first and it was then that someone pushed the students, injuring a girl. The Romanian Army even fired in the air," she added.

"After this, the Ukraine officials kicked the Indian students who had fallen down and they were also dragged, she said, adding that the citizens of Ukraine, however, were very helpful."

"We then got entry into Romania and were given food, water and a blanket. Their (Romanians) behaviour was much better," she said.

Today, the Indian embassy in Ukraine has issued a second advisory within an hour, asking Indian nationals to leave Kharkiv immediately. It has been said in the advisory that all the students who are not getting trains and buses and are at the railway station should reach Pesochin, Babaye and Bezlyudovka on foot. The distance from Kharkiv to Pesochin is 11 kilometers, the distance from Babaye is 12 kilometers and the distance from Bezlyudovka is 16 kilometers.

(With PTI inputs)