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Telangana youth recalls horror in Sumy, says students melted snow to drink water | Hyderabad News
HYDERABAD: Living in Sumy city in Ukraine was like living on the edge of a cliff. In a middle of a war zone to be precise.
The shelling of bombs by Russian forces made life difficult for residents and foreign students in Sumy in the north-eastern border of Ukraine close to Russia. While Indian students from other parts of Ukraine could get out of the country and were flown back to India in evacuation flights, the challenge was big for students in Sumy.
On Saturday morning, 23-year-old Abdul Rawoof of Narayanpet district arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport having been flown to the city from Delhi by Telangana government. Earlier, the evacuation flights organised by the Government of India had brought the last batches of students from Poland to the country. “A bomb fell the pervious night and that is when we went through hardship. There was no electricity. There was no water. There was scarcity of food,” Rawoof recalled. “Yes, since there was no water, we had to melt snow and boil it to drink,” he said talking about the videos that had circulated about how they managed.
Such was the situation in Sumy that the students would run into bunkers for at least three to four times a day whenever a siren blew. “It used to be packed but staying alive was important and the underground bunkers were safe,” he said. After alleged violation of ceasefire by Russia despite a ceasefire announced on humanitarian grounds, the first day’s evacuation did not take place from Sumy. The following day, they were transported in buses to Poltovo and taken to Lviv on train from where they reached the Poland border.
The story of S Prathyusha, 24, a medical student in Kyiv, is different. Though everyone else was leaving, she stayed put hoping that the war will end. When a decision had to be taken to return, she did, to her home in Saroornagar.
Three more students — Siddiqui Mohammed Abdul Mateen of Narayanpet and Qamarul Nouman and Abdul Bari of Hyderabad — returned home on Saturday.
The shelling of bombs by Russian forces made life difficult for residents and foreign students in Sumy in the north-eastern border of Ukraine close to Russia. While Indian students from other parts of Ukraine could get out of the country and were flown back to India in evacuation flights, the challenge was big for students in Sumy.
On Saturday morning, 23-year-old Abdul Rawoof of Narayanpet district arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport having been flown to the city from Delhi by Telangana government. Earlier, the evacuation flights organised by the Government of India had brought the last batches of students from Poland to the country. “A bomb fell the pervious night and that is when we went through hardship. There was no electricity. There was no water. There was scarcity of food,” Rawoof recalled. “Yes, since there was no water, we had to melt snow and boil it to drink,” he said talking about the videos that had circulated about how they managed.
Such was the situation in Sumy that the students would run into bunkers for at least three to four times a day whenever a siren blew. “It used to be packed but staying alive was important and the underground bunkers were safe,” he said. After alleged violation of ceasefire by Russia despite a ceasefire announced on humanitarian grounds, the first day’s evacuation did not take place from Sumy. The following day, they were transported in buses to Poltovo and taken to Lviv on train from where they reached the Poland border.
The story of S Prathyusha, 24, a medical student in Kyiv, is different. Though everyone else was leaving, she stayed put hoping that the war will end. When a decision had to be taken to return, she did, to her home in Saroornagar.
Three more students — Siddiqui Mohammed Abdul Mateen of Narayanpet and Qamarul Nouman and Abdul Bari of Hyderabad — returned home on Saturday.
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