Srinagar: Around 700 odd students who were stranded in Ukraine’s Sumy are all set to reach India today.
The stranded students who for the last two weeks were unable to move out of the city were moved out through a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday.
The students were taken to Poltava, some 175 km south of Sumy from where they were scheduled to board trains to western Ukraine. From Poltava they were taken to Poland on buses.
As per the students, they will board a rescue flight to India from Poland today.
“We are tired but happy. We are traveling since Tuesday morning and have to travel for several more hours but now, we have hope that we will reach home safely, ”said a student.
Among 700 students are 10 Kashmiri whose family had sought assistance from the government to evacuate them from Sumy.
For two weeks, the students in Sumy waged a doughty battle in bomb shelters and basements of their hostels in frigid weather, low on food, drinking water and other essential supplies, as Russian forces clobbered the city with rockets and heavy gunfire.
A video of a Kashmir student went viral earlier this week, in which he was seen melting snow to use it as drinking water.
The water supply to Sumy was blocked after Russain forces attacked and captured the city
The Indian embassy in Ukraine has issued an advisory, urging all stranded Indian nationals to make use of the “humanitarian corridor” and leave the country using trains, vehicles or any other available means of transport, keeping in mind their safety.