After MEA advisory, Indians in Sumy say 'confused' whether to leave for border; supplies running out

Several Indian students stranded in Sumy who decided to walk to the Russian border amid intense fighting in the region are now confused whether to continue their journey after the Ministry of External Affairs urged them to avoid taking unnecessary risksAs evacuation from the shellingbattered city remains a challenge for Indian authorities the students said they could no longer cope with the nailbiting cold depleting food supplies and having to melt snow to get drinking waterAround 700 Indian students are still stuck in the warhit region their evacuation hampered by the continuous fighting in the areaThe students said they have run out of food and waterThe students have released several desperate videos on social media saying they have decided to undertake the potentially fatal journey to the Russian border some 50km from where they are sending shockwaves in New DelhiThey said they hope they would be picked up by Indian authorities from the Russians borderWe are afraid We have awaited a lot and we cannot wait anymore We are risking our life We are moving towards the border If anything happens to us all the responsibility will be on the government and Indian embassy a student surrounded by a large number of his peers holding Indian flags says in one of the videosIn another video students are seen filling up buckets with ice as they ran out of drinking waterThis prompted the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to urge them to stay inside shelters and avoid taking unnecessary risksWe are deeply concerned about Indian students in Sumy Ukraine Have strongly pressed Russian and Ukrainian governments through multiple channels for an immediate ceasefire to create a safe corridor for our students MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi saidMESSAGE FROM AMBASSADOR OF INDIA TO INDIAN STUDENTS IN UKRAINEMEAIndia PIB_India DDNewslive DDNational IndianDiplomacy IndiaInHungary IndiainPoland eoiromania pictwittercomFptG7kKDObmdash India in Ukraine IndiainUkraine March 5 2022After the statement the group of students have halted their journey for now We had already started moving after we gave up hope on the government coming to our rescue But now with the new advisory we are confused whether we should take the risk at all I am so so scared said Md Nizamuddin Aman 21 a firstyear MBBS student at Sumy State UniversityRussia and Ukraine agreed on Thursday to the need for creating humanitarian corridors to help civilians escape the war Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a special military operationThe war in Ukraine has entered its 10th day with evacuation from warhit cities remaining difficult Students stranded in these areas are posting videos on social media pleading with the Indian government to evacuate themTo evacuate citizens from warhit Ukraine the Indian government has launched Operation Ganga However the evacuation from the eastern part of the country has been a cause of concern as heavy violence in underwayIndia has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraines western neighbours such as Romania Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensiveAccording to the Ministry of External Affairs nearly 17000 Indian nationals have left Ukraines borders since advisories were issued over a fortnight backRussia on Wednesday said it is working intensely to create a humanitarian corridor for safe passage to Russian territory of Indian nationals stuck in Kharkiv Sumy and other conflict zones in Ukraine following a request from New DelhiAn estimated 20000 Indian nationals mainly medical students reside in UkraineThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever