Indian students who are currently stuck in eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv have informed that Naveen S., who died due to shelling on Tuesday, had stepped out of the bunker to buy food items for the stranded students.
He was part of the group which stayed behind to help junior students escape along, as per a report by the Indian Express (IE).
“By 6 am (Tuesday morning), Naveen had left to bring food for all of us. The market is about 50 metres from our bunker. At 7.58 am, he sent a message to one of us, saying he was short of money and asked for some to be transferred to his account. One of us called his phone at 8.10 am, but an Ukrainian answered the call and said he was no more,” Naveen’s colleague Amit Vaishyar told the IE.
The students had stayed put in the bunker for the past six days and Naveen had stepped out to buy food for his compatriots.
There has been no news regarding the evacuation plan by the Indian embassy in Kiev and there are currently 200 students who have taken refuge in the said bunker, the report further says.
There are four major medical colleges in Kharkiv where thousands of Indian students study medicine and are stuck in the city.
Now that one of their fellow nationals have been killed in the shelling, they have no option but to remain inside the bunker till they get a safe window to escape.
The students said that if Russia were to provide special permission to Indian nationals to escape, they can easily do so via the Ukrainian Russain border which is around 40 km away from their place, the IE report further says.
One group of Indian students had left on Monday but it was Naveen’s idea that others stay behind to help the juniors escape too as they had come to Ukraine less than a year ago, Viashyar further said.
Naveen S. was 21-years-old and hailed from Karnataka. He was a fourth-year medical student.
Indian foreign secretary (FS) Harsh Shringla on Tuesday announced that there are no Indian nationals left in Kiev, capital of Ukraine.
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FS Shringla also mentioned that he has asked the Russian and the Ukrainian envoys to permit a safe passage for the Indian nationals to escape the warzone, especially in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
“We remain very concerned over the situation in Kharkiv, Sumy and other conflict zones… Over the next three days, 26 flights have been scheduled to bring back Indian citizens,” FS Shingla informed in a press briefing.
“Six flights have now departed for India in the last 24 hours. Includes the first flights from Poland. Carried back 1377 more Indian nationals from Ukraine,” FM Jaishankar wrote in a latest update via twitter.
