At least 1,700 international students are trapped in the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine as shelling by the Russian army continues into the tenth day after humanitarian corridors failed to materialize.
Shivangi Shibu, a 25-year-old medical student from India, woke up at dawn on Saturday in a university dormitory to loud explosions.
“If I have to describe my day, I would say that it started with the sound of rockets or bombs at 5 am, then we heard street fighting, gunshots. We all ran in a panic towards the bunker. And then again around 10 am [we heard] another bomb,” said the student.
“We are scared and mentally exhausted,” she said, adding that there were about 700 Indian students stranded in the city.
Until now, students have relied on food supplies in the dormitory, as well as those of the university, but the water in the city was cut off for three days, forcing them to melt the snow to drink and cook.
They tell us that we are warriors, they unite us, saying that we are brave, but when they tell us that we are finally evacuating… Please help us, we are running out of helpers… #sums #Sumyevacuation @opganga @MEAIndia @PMOIndia @CNN @BBCWorld @times of india @IndiainUkraine pic.twitter.com/HzLoI61q0Q
— Shivangi Shibu (@IndShivangi) March 4, 2022
Sumy is about 48 kilometers (30 miles) from the border with Russia. It was one of the first cities to be attacked by Russian forces after President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine on February 24. outskirts of the city, but there are fears that Russian troops may soon move into the center.
“We are really demoralized, everyone wants to go home,” Precious Ogunbayo, a 21-year-old Nigerian medical student, told Al Jazeera. “We keep asking for help, but there is none at all,” she added.
There are currently about 400 Nigerian students studying in Sumy, the second largest group of international students after Indians. Other students include citizens of Ghana, Rwanda, Turkmenistan, Jordan and Palestine.
Like many others, Ogunbayo tried to flee the city, but taxi or bus tickets cost up to $400 per person, and some of those who tried to escape in their own car were shot at and returned to Sumy. “You should be lucky if you find a driver who knows the way and is willing to risk his life,” Ogunbayo said.
At the second round of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations on Thursday, the parties reached an agreement on a ceasefire to create humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians from several cities in the country, including Sumy.
But the first corridor, meant to provide an exit for about 200,000 civilians from the southern port city of Mariupol and 15,000 from Volnovakha in eastern Ukraine, collapsed on Saturday as Kyiv accused Russia of resuming heavy bombing. Moscow said it was respecting the ceasefire and claimed that Ukrainian forces fired on Russian positions.
Students hide in a bunker in Sumy after sirens warn of shelling [Courtesy of Precious Ogunbayo]
Tatyana Maiboroda, who used to work at Sumy State University and is now the coordinator of evacuation assistance to foreign students, said that no movement is possible without a ceasefire.
“Fights and shelling are going on in almost all directions,” she said. On Thursday, Russian artillery shelled the university’s military department and the city lost power for almost 24 hours after a Russian plane struck a local thermal power plant.
Maiboroda explained that two key bridges had been destroyed, one in the south leading to Kharkiv and the other to Kyiv. Russian army.
“We need this evacuation to be resolved as soon as possible… The situation is getting more and more desperate,” she said, adding that the embassies of Nigeria, Ghana, India, Jordan and Tanzania in particular are working closely on the diplomatic front. open a humanitarian corridor.
More than 10,000 Indian students have been evacuated from Ukraine over the past week, including from the besieged city of Kharkiv, the Indian embassy in Kyiv said in a statement on Saturday, but none from Sumy.
However, the embassy assured that it would “leave no stone unturned in our efforts to secure the safe evacuation of Indian students” from the northeastern city. “I urge you to have more patience and perseverance so that we can ensure your safety and security,” the message says.
Al Jazeera attempted to contact a spokesman for the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to comment on the situation facing the students in Sumy, but has yet to receive a response.