In the video, the student is seen walking with food in his hand. He was saying that the kind of suffering he is facing is beyond description.
A view of the central square following shelling of the City Hall building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Photo | AP)
New Delhi :
A student from Lakshadweep pursuing MBBS in Ukraine was trolled online for putting up videos of his experience in the war-torn country.
Aousaf Hussain, a fourth-year student of Kharkiv National Medical University, was criticised by persons from Kerala and Lakshadweep for going out and getting food for his friends who are living in a bunker in Kharkiv.
The trolls attacked him for walking in the war zone, eating and taking videos of soldiers.
In the video, the student is seen walking with food in his hand. He was saying that the kind of suffering he is facing is beyond description.
“Will someone contact the Indian embassy? What discussions are they having at this point of time? I don’t understand why they are wasting time on discussions”.
After the trolling, Aousaf went into depression. His mother was also hospitalised and had to be kept under observation.
According to his friends, Aousaf had stepped out of the shelter to get food because none of them had eaten anything that day.
“Shawarma was the only food available nearby. After packing the food for his friends, he was rushing back. Because he was hungry, he started eating his share,” said his friend Shana M Shaji.
In the video, Aousaf is also seen saying that he was stopped by some soldiers for shooting videos.
They did not come in an army vehicle, but a car. They asked him to delete the video. He thought he was going to be killed, but somehow managed to escape from the scene.
According to Afsal Husain, Aousaf’s elder brother, this video came under attack from people who posted comments saying he should be killed in the battlefield.
“Some right-wing social media accounts with around 2 million followers asked the Indian government to not evacuate him.”
Another video posted by Aousaf with his female friends also became the target of trolls. The girls allege that a large number of trolls had religious colour.
“We were wearing hoodies in the video and that was thought to be hijab. We were alerted by our parents that online comments are calling us terrorists,” said Shana.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by Ankita Upadhyay, Express News Service / March 08th, 2022
Indian students anxious as ATMs run out of cash and they run low on funds for food.
Sanabil SP, right, with Haneen Kuniyil, medical students in Ukraine at a bus station where they took shelter after explosions rocked Kiev airport. The students were booked to travel to Abu Dhabi when bombs hit the airport at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. Photo: Sanabil SP
Scores of Indian students fleeing Ukraine for their families in the UAE and home country were terrified when bombs went off at Kiev airport on Thursday, forcing them to leave the airport.
They heard Ukrainians shout out warnings: “The Russians are invading ,” as passengers ran out amid loud explosions.
Many students had booked flights home but their plans were shattered when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military assault on Ukraine.
After fleeing Kiev’s Boryspil International Airport, a group of 35 waited for more than 11 hours at a bus shelter trying to find safe accommodation.
“When I heard the blast I was too scared. People were shouting: ‘Russia is invading’. We saw jets flying above. People ran out of the airport,” said Milin Susan Joseph, 23, a fourth-year medical student who had a flight booked to Trivandrum, India.
Dubai resident Mohammed Adil Javad was on one of the last flights to leave Ukraine. The medical student landed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday morning before the attack on Ukraine began. Photo: Mohammed Adil Javad
“Everyone panicked. We just got more and more scared. We didn’t know where to go. We saw six to seven buses outside the airport and we just got in.”
The students took shelter at a nearby bus station with dozens of other travellers.
Many students had travelled the night before for about eight hours by road from Zaporizhzhia State Medical University to Kiev airport.
“We will try to get back to the university. We don’t know how safe it is to travel because people are being told to stay home,” Ms Joseph told The National.
The sight of armoured vehicles and soldiers on the streets has added to their anxiety.
“We can see tanks and military vehicles on the roads. Everyone is scared out of hell,” said Sanabil SP, 23, also a fourth-year student who was booked on a flight to his family’s home in Abu Dhabi.
“We heard two blasts as we were reaching the airport. People began rushing out of the airport. They were saying that the Russians had invaded.”
Another concern is access to money, because ATMs at the bus station ran out of cash. One group managed to reach the Indian embassy but were told they would need to make their own arrangements.
“The situation is real and scary for us. I really want people to know that we need help getting to a safe place,” said Mr Sanabil. “There is no money in the ATMs. You need money even to go to the public washrooms.
“The [Indian] embassy said they don’t have space for 30 students but we need help to find a safe place nearby.”
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India in Ukraine @IndiainUkraine
Third Advisory to all Indian Nationals/Students in Ukraine
By evening, they managed to contact other students living in universities in Kiev and hope to find shelter in dormitories.
Some took the last flight out of Ukraine before the air space was shut down and have reached the UAE.
“I’m safe now but half of me is still there [in Ukraine] because that is where my friends are,” said Mohammed Adil Javad, who landed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, before the attack began.
“I’m hoping India will start an evacuation of students. They need help.
“There are students stuck between Zaporizhzhia and Kiev. They are in the middle of nowhere – not in the university and not at the airport. They are being told to find bomb shelters and tunnels for safety. We are all tense.”
About 18,000 Indian students are in Ukraine, according to government figures.
The embassy last week asked them to leave the country temporarily until the situation returned to normal.
But students said exorbitant air fares – more than 60,000 rupees ($792) one-way to India – and the absence of a clear message to evacuate meant that thousands remain in Ukraine.
“We would all left much before if we had been told we must leave immediately,” Mr Javad said.
“Also how can thousands of students leave in a few days? There are just not enough flights.”
The embassy said it was making arrangements for accommodation for students and asked them to familiarise themselves with the locations of bomb shelters.
“While the mission is identifying possible solution to the situation, please be aware of your surroundings, be safe, do not leave your homes unless necessary and carry your documents with you at all times,” the mission said.
source: http://www.thenationalnews.com / The National / Home> UAE / by Ramola Talwar Badam / February 24th, 2022
