Staying in bunkers, MBBS students from Pune await evacuation from Ukraine

Ghadhve, 19, is one of over 1,000 Indian students stuck in Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

All students were taken into a bunker earlier in the day, he told PTI over phone.

''Today we were taken into a bunker as part of a mock-drill. Now we are back in hostel,'' he said.

He also heard reports that there was a blast on a nearby army base, Ghadhve added.

Asked if they have received any instructions about how to leave the country, he said they were told that they will be taken to Romania by bus and from there they could be flown back to India.

''ATMs in the city have run out of cash. People are buying essential supplies in bulk, so there are shortages at grocery stores too, he said.

Maruti Dabhade, a Pune resident whose daughter Monika is pursuing MBBS in Odessa in southern Ukraine, said she and other students have already been moved to a bunker for safety.

''I spoke to her. She said they are sitting in a bunker. They have been promised that they would be taken to a safer place soon,'' he said.

Before moving into the bunker, his daughter had prepared chapatis and potato `bhaaji' in large quantity and she is surviving on it now, he added.

Hanumant Khaire, another Pune resident whose daughter Siddhi is a 4th-year MBBS student in Odessa, said she and others were safe for the moment.

''But the Union government should expedite the process of bringing them back,'' he said.

His daughter had booked a plane ticket out of the country for March 1, but flight operations across Ukraine are now suspended, he said.

As per the Pune district administration, they have made a list of over 70 students from the district who are stranded in Ukraine.

''We have forwarded the list to the Maharashtra government,'' said an official from the district disaster management cell.

The Pune administration on Thursday set up a control room for those stuck in Ukraine.

At least 24 students from neighbouring Ahmednagar district are stuck in Ukraine, said the official of a private consultancy.

''We are constantly in touch with all the students. They have told us they are safe wherever they are,'' said Mahendra Zaware Patil, CEO of Doctor EduCon, an overseas education consultancy through which these students went to Ukraine to pursue MBBS.

Maharashtra higher education minister Uday Samant said earlier in the day that he had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make arrangements for the safe return of 1,200 students from the state who are currently studying in Ukraine.