Shops, banks shut ATMs empty: Indians stuck in Ukraine face harrowing time

New Delhi, Feb 24 (By Ashish Srivastava-UNI):  The sudden invasion of Russia in Ukraine has jolted the world while Indians, mostly students, are stuck there are facing a harrowing time. Aryaman Bharti, a student at Telinpore National Medical University and a resident of Siwan, Bihar had to wait three hours at a currency exchange shop to convert dollars he had saved. “The 21-year-old medical student said that the banks are closed and most of the ATMs are dried up. “This is why I came to the currency exchange so that I can buy essential stuff,” he said while speaking to UNI. Bharti said that many of the students are in a panic because of the growing tension. Martial law has been imposed in the country and food supply has been limited. “We were advised to stock a week of ration and essentials but the store owners are giving us only in limited quantities to avoid hoarding,” he added. Bharti is among 1,500 Indian students who did not anticipate the sudden invasion by Russia and stayed back even though over 500 fellow students have flown to India. “We had expected military action by Russia but didn’t think that it will come so soon. Many of us have booked our flights back to India in the first week of March,” he said. Bharti alleged that airlines charged hefty from those who wanted to leave immediately “A few of our friends paid as high as 2 lakh for their ticket,” he added. With Russia announcing a military operation in Ukraine, thousands of Indian students enrolled in Ukrainian higher education institutions – mostly studying medicine – are in a state of panic and pleading with authorities to ensure their safe return to India. Yash Kanojia and his three friends who live in Vinnytsia which is at three hours drive from Ukraine’s capital Kyiv are panicked with the uncertainty. “We want to get evacuated as soon as possible. Things are going to be murkier here. Locals here are leaving wherever they can find safe, mostly to Poland,” he told UNI. Yash is studying medicine at Vinnitsa National Medical University and hails from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. He said that his apartment is running on back power since the electricity grid of the town was destroyed in the airstrike. On Thursday, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv issued an advisory urging Indians in Ukraine to “maintain calm, and remain safe wherever you are, be it in your homes, hostels, accommodations or transit.” Yash feels that expecting students to remain calm under such circumstances is not reasonable. “I don’t know how long will it take the authorities here to restore the main power. We are told that even the internet could be shut down as well. Our parents are calm only because they can get in touch with us. If power and internet are gone, we will be unreachable and I don’t know how they will keep calm. The Indian government must act swiftly,” he said.