Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Russian forces have advanced deep into Ukraine ravaging Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa cities where hundreds of buildings have turned into debris, blocking the thoroughfares.
From across the town, comes the rattle of machine gunfire and explosions. A black column of smoke, like a gasping serpent, emerges from the bomb-hit buildings.
Roads lie empty enduring the signs of destruction. This is the scene of the war-ravaged Ukraine, which the Madhya Pradesh students living there shared with Free Press on Saturday.
A red alert was sounded at 4.10 pm (7.40 pm IST) in Ternopil that has, so far, been safe, said Opil Jain, a student who hails from Ujjain. A curfew was clamped on the town along with the entire Ukraine, he added.
The scenes send a chill down the spine. Most students have taken refuge in bunkers from where they cannot even see what is happening outside.
Anjali Venipuri, pursuing MBBS from Kharkiv of Ukraine and native of Harda, said, “There are blasts continuously. I am hidden in the metro station with nine of my friends. My flat is 1 kilometre away from here. We are running out of food and supplies.”
“I have been hiding in a bunker with my friends for the past two days. There are only bomb blasts and sirens one can hear. We dare not move out. The pictures and videos outside are devastating. Buildings have fallen, roads have become craters. We are running out of food and supplies,” says Shivani Singh, another student in Kharkiv. “There are over 2,000 students only in Kharkiv. The city has turned into debris,” she adds.
Another student stuck in Odessa said, requesting anonymity, “We received info that they have ordered shoot at sight for anyone who would be found near or on the bridge that they have bombarded. They said anyone on the bridge would be considered a Russian enemy.”
She did not want her name to be disclosed so that her family doesn’t worry back home.
