Of the seven students from Udupi pursuing medical education in Ukranie and stranded in the crisis-hit nation, two are returning to India.
A 19-year-old Mranal, son of Rajesh, is expected to arrive in Delhi in an evacuation flight on Sunday evening, according to a bulletin released by Udupi Deputy Commissioner M. Kurma Rao.
According to information available, Mranal, a student of Ivano-fran Kivsk National Medical University, Kahaimkiv Street – 31, has boarded a flight from Romania, the bulletin said.
Another student Niyam Raghavendra (20), son of B. V. Raghavendra, and a student of Vinnytsia National Pirogov Medical University, has crossed the Romanian border, it said.
Of the remaining five students, Rohan Dhananjay Bagli (24), son of Dhananjay B., was at Kharkiv on Sunday. He is a student of Kharkiv National Medical University, Ukraine.
AniFred Ridly D’Souza (20), daughter of William D’Souza, who is also a student of Kharkiv National Medical University, Ukraine, is staying in the university hostel.
Glenwill Fernandes (19), son of Melvin Fernandes, who is a student of Town National Medical University in Ukraine, is also staying in Ukraine.
The other two stranded students are Nandini Arun (21), daughter of Sangeetha Arun, who is a student of Odessa National Medical University, and Ankitha Jagadish Poojary (22), a student at V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National Medical University, Kharkiv.
Mr. Raghavendra, father of Niyam Raghavendra, said that his son reached Romania by bus at around 9.30 a.m. on Sunday. He left here for Ukraine in December last year.
A family member, Nandini Arun, said that as there are already a large number of people waiting to cross the border to Poland, many of the students in Western Ukraine could not go there.
Dhananjay, a scientist at Krishi Vigyana Kendra, Brahmavar, who is the father of Rohan Bagli, said that his son is taking shelter in a bunker as there has been shelling in the nearby area. His son informed him that as per information available, officials of the Indian Embassy in Kharkiv have also taken shelter in bunkers as there has been shelling. Students do not want to take any drastic steps to reach the Poland border as Ukranians are already sending such people back as they believe that if all foreigners leave Ukraine, Russia’s aggression may further escalate.
Meanwhile, in a social media post, Farzana Shaikh from Mangaluru now living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has said that her son Mohammed Thaha Sheikh is a first year MBBS student of the Kharkhiv National Medical University, Ukraine. He and 6,000 other students are stuck in Kharkiv. They are facing a lot of difficulties living in underground bunkers, with not much food.
“I cannot imagine the mental stress that they would be going through. The evacuation process currently is from the borders that are in the western and south-western parts of Ukraine. Children from Kharkhiv are not in a position to travel this distance,” the post said.
“Please reach out to the Government to help them out through the Russian border. There is an international airport about 70 km from Kharkiv in Russia, Belgorod International Airport. This could be an alternative route of safe evacuation. Please help us out,” it said.
“I am writing this text as I am in desperate need of help and support from the Indian media and Government,” the post added.
As per the latest information available with the Dakshina Kannada district administration, 18 from the district are stranded in Ukraine.
