The students were received by their family members, who were overwhelmed to see their children back home
Four students of Dakshina Kannada returned from war-torn Ukraine on March 7. Anaina Anna, Claton Osmond D’Souza, Ahamed Saad Arshad and Shalvin Preeti Aranha landed at the Mangaluru International Airport on March 7 morning. They had reached New Delhi on March 6. They were received by their family members, who were overwhelmed to see their children back home.
“We were worried till they reached New Delhi. Relieved to see them back,” said Sandhya, mother of Anaina Anna, whose passport is with the travel agent. She thanked the Indian embassy for arranging another passport and also for helping students return safely to their home towns.
The students and family members met Deputy Commissioner K. V. Rajendra in his office in Mangaluru before proceeding to their homes, on March 7, 2022. | Photo Credit: MANJUNATH H.S.
The students and their family members thanked the Dakshina Kannada district administration, more so Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra, for being in touch with them all through since February 24 till they reached Mangaluru. “He has acted just like our own brother and took all steps to bring our children back safely,” said Claton D’Souza’s mother.
The students and family members met Dr. Rajendra in his office before proceeding to their homes.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by The Hindu Bureau / Mangaluru – March 07th, 2022
Amid severe cold, we travelled in a train standing for almost 17 hours to the Poland border and crossed over on foot, said Pavan Kumar from Moodbidri who returned from Ukraine on March 4.
Indian students stranded in Ukraine. (Photo | PTI)
Mangaluru :
Sheikh Mohammad Thaha, a medical student from Mangaluru, is yet to get out of war-hit Ukraine. Thaha had been staying in a shelter just 10 km away from Kharkiv. Thaha said he spent more than a week in a bunker.
“We are near Poltava, which is 130 km away from Kharkiv, right now and the Indian embassy is expected to send buses to transport the remaining students. We could hear heavy shelling in Kharkiv as it is just 10 km away from the place we were staying.”
Meanwhile, Pavan Kumar from Moodbidri returned from Ukraine on Friday. Pavan said , “We did not have enough food and basic facilities. Amid severe cold, we travelled in a train standing for almost 17 hours to the Poland border and crossed over on foot. We had our final examination on May 22, and, since we did not know the severity of the war, we could not move out on time. There are still over 600 students stranded in Ukraine,” he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Divya Cutinho / Express News Service / March 06th, 2022
Rajia Begum and her son Nizamuddin. File | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Her son is stuck in Sumy bordering Russia
A school teacher in Nizamabad, who had travelled 1,400 km on a two-wheeler all by herself to bring back her son stranded in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, following the sudden imposition of lockdown in March 2020, is in distress again.
Razia Begum’s 19-year-old Nizammudin Aman is stuck in Sumy, a city in north-eastern Ukraine, where he is pursuing MBBS first-year studies. He is among the 500-odd Indian students cooped up in hostel rooms or bunkers even as Russia has escalated the military offensive on the war-hit country. The students stuck there say Sumy, close to the Russia border, has been badly affected. The nearest metro station was blown up, and roadways are damaged too, they say. The distressed mother has written to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali, and senior State government officials on Wednesday requesting help in evacuating her son from Ukraine.
Back in March 2020, Nizam had gone to Nellore to drop off a friend. They were undergoing coaching for NEET-PG. As lockdown was suddenly announced, Ms Razia, who works as a teacher at Salampad Camp village at Bodhan in Nizamabad, set off on a solo journey to rescue her stranded son.
With just a pack of rotis, fruits, and a five-litre fuel can on April 6, 2020, Ms Razia embarked on a long, arduous journey on her two-wheeler. She drove alongside heavy vehicles on highways, even at night, and reached Nellore the next day. After picking up her son, they drove back to their home in Bodhan. Ms Razia lost her husband, also a school teacher, 14 years ago due to kidney failure. In the letter addressed to the government officials, she stated that the medical condition and helplessness made her son opt for the medical profession so that he could serve such patients in future.
Nizam is once again stranded, this time in a far-away country, amid a hostile situation, and Ms Razia cannot stop feeling anxious. “They are not able to get out of there since it is not safe to step out. I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rescue my son along with other Indian students stuck there,” she appealed.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by K Shiva Shanker / Hyderabad – March 07th, 2022
An Indian student reunited with her family members after being evacuated from war-torn Ukraine, on March 4 | Photo Credit: –
The students said that there are regular power outages
Indian students stuck in Sumy, Ukraine, are in dire situation. After a bomb exploded in the city on Thursday evening, there is no water supply to them. The students said that they are forced to collect snow, melt and use it for drinking, cooking.
“We stored some water yesterday which was over by Friday morning. So we have collected the snow in buckets, melted it, filtered and consumed it,” said Abdul Rawoof, one among close to 600-800 Indian students in Sumy waiting to be rescued.
Another student Nizammudin Aman said that the water supply is cut off from Thursday night. “Thankfully it’s heavily snowing today. So now we’re collecting snow from outside our hostel and melting it using electric induction and kettles,” said Mr. Nizammudin.
It started snowing from Friday morning. The distressed students who were in need of water found it to be a blessing in the harrowing time. Their primary request is to be evacuated. With no supply of water, their washrooms have become stinky.
The students said that there are regular power outages. Since it started snowing, they need heaters which function when there is power supply. Other basic thing which they are running out of is food. Super markets are closed. Only cash is accepted to buy groceries but ATMs have run out of cash.
“Our contactor is providing one meal a day. We are arranging another meal using bread, nutella, eggs,” said Mr. Rawoof. The students have been urging Indian government to evacuate them at the earliest. They have started uploading videos on social media platforms explaining their situation and requesting for help.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by K Shiva Shankar / Hyderabad, March 04th, 2022
Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi receives Indian nationals, who have been safely evacuated from Ukraine, as a part of ‘Operation Ganga’, at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. | Photo Credit: PTI
1,200 walk 15 km out of city after embassy advisory; 60 bused out after 18 hour wait
Following the government’s “urgent advisory” asking all Indian nationals to leave Kharkiv and reach towns on its outskirts, hundreds of students, who braved bombs to cover a 10-15km of journey on foot, were on Thursday unaware of what they were expected to do next, or if there was a plan to evacuate them.
“We have been told to wait for embassy officials who may come tonight, but we are not sure if that will happen,” said Mohammed Thaha Sheikh, a student of Kharkiv National Medical University, from an abandoned hotel in Pisochyn, a western suburb of Kharkiv.
On Thursday, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv issued an advisory asking all Indian nationals in Kharkiv to leave the city “immediately” and asked them to proceed to Pisochyn, Babaye and Bezlyudovka on the west and south of Kharkiv. Everyone was told to reach these towns by 6 p.m. local time
At the time the advisory was issued, Mr. Sheikh said he was at the Kharkiv train station amidst “intense shelling”. While some girls were allowed to board a train, hundreds of other Indian students were not allowed to do so, he said. “Five trains crossed us but we were not allowed to board them. The ticket collector was allowing only Ukrainian women and children. I have heard there was also violence and some students were thrown off a train,” said Mr. Sheikh.
As the 6 p.m. deadline was approaching, he along with 1,200 others decided to proceed to Pisochyn. They covered a distance of 12 kms in three hours in relative peace once they hit the highway. But before that there were Ukrainian military men and tanks enroute and they were told to “run fast” and were also provided shelter for “10-15 minutes” by Ukrainian soldiers. Once they reached Pisochyn, they found an abandoned hotel.
“They were not expecting us there and there were only two-three staff. They assigned us two buildings, but there is no food here,” said Mr. Sheikh.
18 hours later, the students were still waiting to hear from the embassy on the next course of action.
Later in the evening, their student co-ordinator (or agent) started arranging buses and 60 students left in two buses to the western border.
Russia on Thursday said it was considering providing a humanitarian corridor so that Indian students in cities in eastern Ukraine such as Kharkiv and Sumy could be evacuated through Russian territory. For those who manage to escape the war zones, the journey back to India is a long one.
At a shelter in Bercini in Romania, Tanya Shekhar has been waiting for nearly four days for news from the local Indian embassy on their transportation to the city airport. She is part of a group of 47 students “We spent 48 hours at the border check-post standing in the open in sub-zero temperatures and managed to cross the border. But there was no embassy official in sight.
We have been at a shelter arranged by the Romanian government since February 28. Though we have been mailing the embassy and calling their helpline to know about our transportation, we only heard back from them today. We have been told there will be a bus today,” said Ms. Shekhar.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by Jagriti Chandra / New Delhi – March 03rd, 2022
Indian students, evacuated from Ukraine, on their arrival at Kochi International Airport in Kochi on March 5, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI
‘We will soon be left with no option but to start walking to the nearest border ourselves’
Students in Sumy on Saturday said they were running out of hope after several days of promises on their evacuation through a “humanitarian corridor” and that continued bombardment in the city indicated there was no sign yet of a ceasefire for them.
The city also saw a blackout for most part of the day, leaving students without a means to cook.
“There is no water, no food, no electricity for the past two days and the bombings keep getting worse every passing day. Often bombs land a few hundred metres away from us,” said Zara Azan.
Another student, Hitesh Kumar Gujjar, said there were sirens at least thrice on Saturday forcing students to rush to their bunkers.
“Today is the 10th day. Every day we hear that we will be evacuated, but that is yet to happen. We will soon be left with no option but to start walking to the nearest border ourselves. We would prefer to die trying to escape rather than die of hunger and thirst ,” said Dushyant Siraw, who was echoing what a group of students said in a video threatening to walk to the Russian border armed with Indian flags amidst intense fighting in Sumy.
“The latest we have heard is that there will be an effort on Sunday to try and evacuate us. But this is not through official sources. If not tomorrow, we will lose all hope,” said Ms. Azan.
Mr. Gujjar said though there was a water tanker sent for the students, it was not enough.
“We got one litre of water. How can one tanker for 700 Indian students and hundreds from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria be sufficient,” he said, adding that with no electricity, cooking on induction was not possible and students were making do with “biscuits and chips”.
Students say some of their friends are seeing their health deteriorate from exhaustion and scarcity of food.
“Several of my friends and I have fainted more than a few times. There is physical and mental breakdown. Many students are also experiencing asthma attacks, but inhalers and drugs or any medical assistance is just not available,” said Ms Azan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National – Indians in Ukraine / by Jagruti Chandra / New Delhi – March 05th, 2022
A view shows thermal power plant destroyed by shelling, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the town of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released on March 4, 2022. | Photo Credit: Reuters
Their fate hangs in the balance as there is no progress on ‘humanitarian corridor’ for evacuation
The fate of several hundreds of students at Sumy in eastern Ukraine hangs in the balance as there was little progress on a “humanitarian corridor” for evacuation of civilians on Friday, while students who were able to reach Pesochin from Kharkiv after an advisory continued to leave for the western border on privately arranged buses.
“There were air-strikes and bombings on Sumy yesterday, which led to power and water supply being cut-off. We spent the entire night without electricity, and we can’t cook without water. If we don’t get killed by bombs, we will definitely die of starvation and thirst,” says Shivangi Jaiswal, who shared videos of students collecting snow and water from roof channels.
She says that unlike Kharkiv, where there was some movement because of a train station, Sumy is cut off from all sides as roads and rail tracks have been damaged, entrapping students in their hostel bunkers.
“Only a government intervention can help us escape from here. But it seems no decisions are being taken for Sumy,” said Ms. Jaiswal
‘Buses not helpful’
On Thursday, Russia and Ukraine agreed to create humanitarian corridors for evacuation of civilians and there were reports that 130 buses were waiting on the Russian border for Indian students.
But Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a press interaction on Friday that there would be difficulties in evacuating students from an active conflict zone until there was a ceasefire and Russian buses were very far from Kharkiv and Sumy and were not proving to be helpful.
Reacting to these comments from Sumy, Zara Azan said, “the government says they are waiting for us at the borders. I want to ask them, if you can’t brave the shelling to reach us, then how do you expect young college students to make their way to the border without cabs, buses or trains. The least the embassy can do is arrange buses for us.”
“Yesterday we saw several fighter planes drop bombs just metres away from our hostel, and several girls fainted on seeing that. Increasingly, children are falling sick due to cold or complaining of low blood sugar levels or suffering panic attacks. We may even have to carry them while planning our escape as we can’t leave our friends behind,” said Zara.
She asked why did the embassy not forewarn its citizens about escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
“In February, I had to travel from India to Ukraine and I called the Indian embassy to know if it was safe to travel as several other countries had started issuing advisories for their citizens and I was told that I could travel,” says Zara.
‘No info on exit plan’
In Pesochin, where nearly 1,200 students fled to from Kharkiv following a government advisory on Wednesday, students continued to leave for the western border on privately arranged buses for which they have paid from their own pocket. They were earlier expecting that they would be able to make their escape through the border with Russia on buses they believed the embassy would arrange for them.
“There is no information yet from the embassy on an exit plan for us through Russia. Our student coordinator has arranged a few buses and we are slowly leaving on them. Two buses with 60 students left yesterday and nearly six are leaving today. We have been told that all students will be able to leave Pesochin by Saturday,” said Mohamed Thaha Sheikh.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> India> National / by Jagriti Chandra / New Delhi – March 04th, 2022
Screenshot from a video sent to The Peninsula by one of the students
Doha :
Around 23 Doha-based Indian medical students in Ukraine’s Kharkiv university have been staying in bunkers for the last four nights as fierce fighting between the Russian and Ukrainian forces has prevented them from fleeing the war-torn country.
The panic-stricken parents of these stranded students shared their anxiety with The Peninsula yesterday while requesting Indian authorities to quickly make arrangements for bringing back their children safely.
“It’s scary. We’re worried about the plight of our children after receiving disturbing text messages from them.
Even in this difficult situation, they’re consoling us saying Allah will show a way to overcome, says Doha resident Aysha Saibool, mother of Dua Khadeeja, a first-year medical student at the V N Karazin Kharkiv National University in Kharkiv.
She said that her daughter has informed that it will take at least seven hours from Kharkiv to reach the nearest border and since no security is guaranteed it is unsafe to travel.
The plight of the stranded students in the war zone was raised by her with the Minister of State of India’s External Affairs, V Muraleedharan.
The Minister said that travelling from Kharkiv, which lies in the eastern part of Ukraine, to the south – west borders of Romania, Hungary or Poland is not safe. He advised the students to stay where they are, until they receive further instructions from the Indian Embassy in Ukraine.
Dua Khadeeja
The Peninsula contacted Dua Khadeeja over telephone in Kharkiv and she said that she and 131 other students were stranded in the Mir hotel bunker in dire condition. They were told not to move out because of security reasons.
“We are sitting inside the bunker with the hope that we will be evacuated soon. Everyone is terrified. Some experience nose bleeding due to allergies and severe cold,” said Dua.
“There’s hardly any space to stand. We cannot even go to toilet. This morning we were allowed to go to hostel for a few minutes to freshen up. That was a little bit of comfort from this harrowing experience. Dua said that food is provided at the bunker.
The parents of Doha-based students have been sharing the latest developments through their whatsapp group.
Nusrath Shamseer, whose daughter Fathima Sharbeen is also stranded in the hostel bunker in Kharkiv University, said they are worried about the situation. Fathima’s classmates Hiba and Riya are also staying in the hostel bunker since Thursday.
Fathima Sharbeen
“The easiest way for the students from Kharkiv to be evacuated is via Russia. But it is dangerous to cross the border without adequate security escorts from both Ukraine and Russia,” one parent said quoting his son’s message.
“The alternative routes are Romanian border in the south-west and Poland, Hungary and Slovakia in the west. These are too far from Karkhiv,” he added.
India has so far evacuated 709 students from Ukraine with the third flight carrying 240 students arriving in Delhi from the Hungarian capital Budapest last morning. The flight landed a few hours after Air India’s second evacuation flight from the Romanian capital Bucharest carrying 250 Indian nationals landed at Delhi Airport.
India’s evacuation operation of its stranded citizens, codenamed as ‘Ganga’, began on Saturday with the first flight bringing back 219 people from Bucharest to Mumbai.
Disturbing accounts by Indian students stranded in Ukraine are also circulating in social media with some complaining that they were beaten up by Ukrainian forces and were being kept from leaving the country.
According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science, there are over 18,000 students from India study in the country. Most of the students are from the southern Indian state of Kerala.
source: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com / The Peninsula / Home> Qatar> General / March 01st, 2022
Amidst the blitzkrieg from the Russian military, three students from Kodagu managed to leave the conflict zones in Ukraine and safely returned to India much to the relief of their family members who were pleading for their safe evacuation ever since Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
Alisha Sayyad Ali, Siniya V.J. and M.P. Nirmala, who managed to reach the borders in available modes of transport from their respective cities, returned on Wednesday in the evacuation flights operated by the Indian government.
The girls’ return was confirmed to The Hindu by the Kodagu district administration, whose officials were in touch with the stranded students since the war broke out. A few of the students from Kodagu and Mysuru are said to have reached Poland and are waiting for their evacuation. All of them are safe.
Siniya, who landed in Bengaluru airport on Wednesday evening, was welcomed by her family members.
Jose, her uncle, said Siniya had to walk about 20 km from her shelter in Kyiv along with other students to the railway station to reach Livv. She was evacuated from Budapest in Hungary to New Delhi.
“Minutes before Siniya was supposed to board a flight to Dubai on February 24 from Kyiv to join her sister for a vacation, Russian forces attacked Ukraine and the flights got cancelled. She had to rush back to her accommodation in available means of transport for her safety. Her 40-kg baggage was stuck in Kyiv airport and she flew to India with only a few pairs of clothes as all her belongings are at the airport,” Mr. Jose said.
Alisha, a student of Ivan Francisco Medical University, has also returned.
M.P. Nirmala, a student of Bogomoleth National Medical University in Kyiv, was stranded at a school after the invasion. Her mother Rajani was praying for her early return, pleading with the authorities for her evacuation. Ms Rajani said, “My daughter landed in Delhi this morning and is on her way to Bengaluru.”
Karthik, brother of Likith, who was stranded in Kharkiv with eight others, said his brother and some of his friends have reached Poland. “It was tough for them to reach the borders but they managed and are now away from the conflict zone Kharkiv which is under siege. They are waiting for their turn to board the next evacuation flights,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mysuru – March 02nd, 2022
Salman, along with countless others have been left to navigate to borders 800 kms away as the Indian government has absolved themselves of any responsibility.
Salman (Left) and his friend Samiuddin. (Screengrab: Twitter)
Hyderabad:
At 8:30 pm, IST, Salman Mohiuddin, one of the countless Indian students stuck in Ukraine, over a WhatsApp call narrated the horrors he had witnessed over the last few days. His voice was meek, with hints of helplessness. He rushed through his statements and made it a point to mention that there was hope if the government chose to help them.
He used the collective word ‘them’ instead of the singular ‘me‘, as in times of war, nobody speaks in the singular.
Salman, along with countless others, has been stranded in the war-torn country since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military offensive against Ukraine, leaving expatriates stranded miles away from their homeland.
As a large number of students from the Dnipropetrovsk Medical Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine hurried to the airports in an attempt to fly to safety before the dreaded war began, their hopes were crushed as they were prevented from flying minutes before they boarded their flights.
“We were asked to leave the airport by officials and seek shelter elsewhere. A few minutes later, we heard a bomb detonate. We were a mere 1.6 kilometers from the bomb,” said a passive Salman over the call with Siasat.com.
Salman’s testimony made one thing clear.
The war had begun.
Students up until then were in a close-knit group. When the bomb made its presence known, they panicked and ran in different directions. Salman along with five of his friends ran towards and found shelter in the Kyiv Medical University’s hostel alongside 150 other resident students. Others ran towards the embassy in search of refuge.
When asked about bare necessities, Salman said that for the moment things were fine.
“We are a group of over 150 Indian students who are currently stuck in Kyiv. We have sufficient food to eat as we found shelter in the university’s hostel,” added Salman.
Salman’s account of Ukraine as mentioned before extends beyond his own self. While he hasn’t witnessed bodily offenses, he discusses how he has heard violence. The auditory account of violence is conveyed in his meek and yet somehow, detached tone.
“My friends who ran towards the Indian Embassy had been given shelter in a school nearby. However, the students have been struggling with little food, and are forced to bear the chilly weather, without mattresses or proper arrangements for a good night’s sleep,” he says.
Indian government and where they stand:
After three days of waiting around the students were able to contact the Indian Embassy in Ukraine.
“We were able to get in touch with the Embassy after a while. The Indian government claims to be rescuing students from Ukraine but we have been left to survive on our own,” said Salman. His up till then placid tone shifts to one of betrayal. “How can he do this to us?” he asks.
“We have been asked to stay where we are until the situation improves. The Embassy has left us to navigate the borders on our own, which are over 800 kilometers away,” said a now rootless Salman.
To make matters worse, the Indian embassy in Ukraine on Monday advised all Indian students stranded in Kyiv to reach the railway station in the Ukrainian capital for their onward journey to the western parts of the war-torn country.
The Indian government has so far rescued 907 stranded citizens from Ukraine following Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that approximately 13,000 Indians are stranded in Ukraine as of now, and the government is making efforts to bring them back as soon as possible.
Salman’s Hyderabad connection:
Salman’s family resides in Hyderabad’s Bahadurpura and like most families in Telangana has appealed to the state chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for help. Rao had earlier assured support for students from Telangana stranded in Ukraine.
Salman has earlier shared a video message, where he had shared glimpses of the heavily populated basement of the KMU as he pleaded with the Indian government for help.
Salman’s family resides in Hyderabad’s Bahadurpura and has appealed to the state chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for help, as he has promised to extend support in bringing back the students who are stranded in Ukraine, a copy of which has been accessed by Siasat.com.
“I spoke to my son a few hours ago. He told me that a few Ukrainian soldiers had tried to force their way into the hostel however were stopped and sent away by their hostel security guard. They are all stuck in the abasement of the hostel of KMU,” said Salman’s father Dr. Ghulam Mohiuddin.
They are stuck in Ukraine amidst a war. We are worried about them as bombs are dropping a few kilometers away from their location. We are appealing to the government for help,” said a helpless father.
Salman’s twin brother, Nomaan Hyder, who resides in Kazakistan, was the first to reach out to Siasat.com seeking help for his brother.
“He has been stuck in the basement alongside other students and we have been informed that they heard shots being fired at a distance when the Ukrainian soldiers arrived at the hostel. No one was hurt, however. Our family has been kept in the dark about a few terrifying incidents that have unfolded before my brother’s eyes in Ukraine,” said Nomaan.
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine War
The Russian army has launched coordinated missile attacks on several Ukrainian cities including the capital city Kyiv, on Thursday in Europe’s worst conflict in decades that was launched by Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
Negotiation talks are taking place in Belarus for Kyiv and Moscow however with little expectations.
Before the meeting, President Zelensky urged Russian forces to lay down their weapons and called for immediate EU membership.
On the fifth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, people in Kyiv are emerging from their homes after a weekend-long curfew.
As the Russian currency plunges, the interest rate is increased by 20 percent and experts warn of a possible run on banks.
UK’s defense secretary says that Russia could indiscriminately bomb cities as its frustration grows.
The northeastern city of Chernihiv was heavily bombed overnight however is still under Ukrainian control. However, reports of Belarus, a Russian ally, have decided to deploy its own soldiers to fight.
A number of World leaders have condemned the invasion and imposed sanctions against Russia, however, they have left little to no impact on the war-driven country. The US, EU, UK, and other allies have reportedly agreed to remove some Russian banks from the Swift payments system.
Germany also announced that it is sending anti-tank missiles and other weapons to Ukraine – marking a major change in policy.
A curfew had been put in place from Saturday to Monday morning after Russian missiles hit an oil depot in Vasylkiv, its mayor said, which has prompted fears of toxic fumes. Anyone who is seen on the street during the curfew will be treated as a Russian “saboteur”, said the capital’s mayor.
A large number of people have already fleed Ukraine, while some attempt to flee the war-struck country with a 27-hour-long queue of women and children, on the Moldovan border.
Heavy street fighting took place in Kyiv on Saturday as officials urged locals to take immediate shelter. Kyiv was struck by two missiles. As many as 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed since the invasion began.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> Hyderabad / by Syeda Faiza Kirmani / February 28th, 2022
