Bhubaneswar: The situation on the ground in Ukraine remains intense. With the deafening sound of sirens and gunshots on the streets of Kharkiv and Kyiv, Odisha students stuck in these cities are rushing towards the safer borders to get themselves evacuated from the war-zone.
Despite these challenging situations, reports of some Odisha citizens braving the extreme climate and bombardments have made their way to the nearest border on foot, safely.
Two medical students from Odisha Abinash Nayak of Hadagodia Sahi in Puri and Roshan Kumar Behera of Kuchinda in Sambalpur district have taken the chance and managed to reach the borders t return home.
Nayak trudged 40 km without any food in freezing cold to reach Poland and come within the reach of the Indian authorities to get himself rescued.
Nayak reportedly took six days to reach the neighbouring country on foot. Worse, he witnessed the death of a person during the journey.
A medical education from Ternopil National Medical University in Ukraine, Nayak and his friends arranged a vehicle on February 24 to reach Ukraine-Poland border as advised by Indian Embassy in Kyiv.
Unfortunately, the vehicle was stopped at a place around 40 km away from the border. Left with no choice, Nayak and his friends decided to walk to the border.
Braving temperature as low as minus 10 degree Celsius, the youth experiencd very tough conditions with many going numb and breathless on the way. The group also lost one member on way to the border. With sheer willpower to return home to his family, Nayak continued his journey without food and managed to reach Poland.
From the Poland border they were taken to an airport in a bus arranged by the Indian Embassy. This had given him hope and Nayak hopes to be home soon, the land of Lord Jagannath.
Behera, another student from Odisha who is pursuing a fourth-year MBBS in Kharkiv, used to stay in a rented room with friends. Because of the ongoing war, he and his friends have taken shelter in the basement of a metro station last week.
On Saturday, they had gone to collect some ration and returned to the shelter. since curfew was imposed, they could not come out of the shelter.
Roshan, who had been a witness to the bombings and gunfire, said Ukraine volunteers had been helpful for the Indians by distributing biscuits and water.
But, when the Indian Embassy asked them all to move to the borders, he and few others first decided to reach the Romanian border from Lviv but changed their plans after learning about harassment of Indians there.
They decided to travel towards Poland, which is at a distance of 80 km,
after travelling 15 hours. His parents in Sambalpur told mediapersons that Roshan safely crossed into the Poland border. His cousin sister, who was staying in Kharkiv, had taken a train to Lviv and is on reportedly on the way to Poland border, said Roshan’s parents.
