Odisha Students Among 700 Indian Nationals Ready To Leave Sumy, But Ukraine Yet To Guarantee Safe Passage

Bhubaneswar: The 11-hour ceasefire declared by the Russian military in our major Ukrainian cities – Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol- on Monday instilled fresh hope in five Odisha students holed up in hostels of Sumy State Medical University at Zamostyans’ka Street.

According to media reports, 700 Indian students were trapped in the varsity and the humanitarian corridor opened for them around 10 am this morning. The students have packed their bags and are getting ready for evacuation with a team from Indian Embassy in Ukraine on their way to the hostel. Buses have also been arranged for them and they will be taken to Kursk in Russia.

Sumy is closest to the Russian border and the nearest airport Belgorod is in Russia.

Ukraine has, however, rejected Moscow’s offer of humanitarian corridors out of key cities that lead to Russia and Belarus. “Our people won’t go to Belarus and to Russia,” Ukraine’s vice prime minister said Monday and termed Moscow’s unilateral announcement of humanitarian corridors “unacceptable.”

“This is one of the problems that is causing the humanitarian corridors to break down. They seem to agree to them, but they themselves want to supply humanitarian aid for a picture on TV, and want the corridors to lead in their direction,” news agency Reuters quoted a spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as saying.

Notably, Russia had also announced to open two routes for Sumy:

1) Sumy-Sudzha-Belgorod (in Russia)

2) Sumy-Golubovka-Romny-Lokhvitsa-Lubny-Poltava (central Ukraine)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and sought his “support” in the evacuation of Indian students stuck in northeastern Sumy city.

During talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Modi welcomed the Russian announcement of ceasefire and establishment of humanitarian corridors in parts of Ukraine, including Sumy, said government sources. It is to be seen if Ukraine respects these corridors and guarantees a safe page to the people.

“Out of 20,000 Indian citizens, we have been able to evacuate more than 16,000 citizens. Around 3,000 citizens are still there in neighbouring countries of Ukraine. Around 600 students are there in Sumy. The Embassy is making arrangements to evacuate them,” MoS, MEA, V Muraleedharan told the media.

The five Odisha students had filled up the Google form following a fresh advisory by the Indian Embassy on Sunday and had since then been waiting for help. They just had a water tanker, bread and eggs, which they received from an Indian national who runs a pharmacy in Sumy, to survive on and still had to melt ice and stock it for consumption. “We can survive on dry food but unless we get adequate supply for water, the health condition of many others will deteriorate,” Gouri Shankar Parida, a student from Balasore, was quoted as saying by TNIE.

Smruti Nayak, another student from Odisha, who has been suffering from bronchiolitis since the war began, had sent an SOS for medicines to volunteers facilitating help to the stranded Indians, the report added.

Some students had earlier uploaded a video in which a girl can be heard speaking about the water crisis and sanitary problems being faced by them. Some of them had sought medicines to stop periods, but Red Cross was not able to reach them.

Sumy had turned into an active war zone and had been witnessing heavy shelling, which destroyed rail links, bridges and roads in the city.