“I was about to complete my fifth year of medical study this year but this unprecedented war in Ukraine has turned my life upside down now,” says Rajesh, a student in Kyiv, who is from Theni in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
As the Russian attack continues in Kharkiv and Kyiv, Rajesh tells SBS Tamil that he spent a week in his apartment building’s bomb shelter in the Ukrainian capital while explosions were heard above.
He recalls these days as among the most distressing of his life.
“The initial strikes in Ukraine were at the Kyiv airport, which was just a few kilometres away from my place of residence. My parents back home in Tamil Nadu panicked after watching Ukraine burning on news channels,” he says.
I woke up to bombings and sounds of loud sirens at 5 am in the morning on February 24. I was in deep shock and it took a few minutes to understand what was happening around me as the ambiance was really terrifying.
He says conditions in the shelter were made more difficult as there was no electricity and internet.
“Many Ukrainians left their homes and belongings and took shelter underground in the pitch dark. It was heart-wrenching to see their plight at the shelter.
“Though the past one week at the war zone was distressing, it taught me the most important life lesson-- no matter how far you reach in life, you will tend to hit the bottom and you will have to start everything from the scratch at one point of time in your life. My friends and I started saving food and water for our survival as we braced ourselves for the upcoming toughest days of our life in Ukraine.”
Residents of Kyiv leave the city following pre-offensive missile strikes of the Russian armed forces on 24 February, 2022. Source: Getty / Pierre Crom/Getty Images
Rajesh says the death of Indian student Naveen Shekarappa – who was killed in the bombings in Kharkiv when he stepped out of his bunker to get some food – have stopped many from leaving their places of shelter.
“Many choose to stay under the shelter as crossing the Ukrainian border is literally a do-or-die situation. It takes one day from the city to reach near Slovakia, Poland, or Hungary border.
Anytime we may face bombings if we choose to step out of the bomb shelter.
While thousands of students have decided to take the dangerous journey to cross the borders towards safety, Rajesh says his own leap of faith was a difficult call to make.
“The Indian embassy asked us to come to any of the neighboring country’s border to get us back home. So, we finally decided to flee Ukraine though we knew that we were risking our lives.”
After waiting many hours at Kyiv’s main railway station, he boarded a train to Lviv, not knowing the hardships that awaited.
“We walked miles from Lviv in freezing temperature and managed to make it to the Slovakian border where we received a warm welcome from the volunteers.
Latest data from the U-N refugee agency, U-N-H-C-R, shows more than 874,000 people have fled Ukraine in the seven days since the Russian invasion Source: AAP Images
“We were given food, water, clothes, and other essentials. We witnessed a ruthless attack in Ukraine, our faith in humanity was once again restored by the Slovakian volunteers. We finally slept peacefully in a Slovakian shelter after a week of sleepless nights in Ukraine. Our thoughts are still there at Kyiv as thousands are still stuck in the war zone.”
Only this keeps me going in this tough time
Like Rajesh, medical student Deepashri is currently trying to cross the border via Lviv.
Her mother Uma Shankari tells SBS Tamil that Deepashri is feeling “terrible” about the task ahead.
"It’s the worst thing that could happen to any parent to know that your child is out there at the war zone and you are sitting thousands of miles away from them. I feel terrible,” says Ms Shankari.
“My daughter Deepashri boarded a flight to Ukraine for her medical studies just 20 days ago. Three weeks before she was here in Tirunelveli with us having family time. She recently went to Ukraine to join her first year of college at the Kharkiv National Medical University.”
Ms Shankari says her daughter has been in constant contact ever since the war broke.
“I keep staring at my phone for texts from my daughter. Only this keeps me going in this tough time. The last time I spoke was when she was trying to get on the train to Lviv.
“I feel helpless as a parent and this situation is extremely difficult to cope with. She and her friends have been trying to cross the border for the past couple of days. My prayers for those stuck like my daughter in Ukraine.”
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