Hi, I am sorry for sounding like a broken record at this point but Indian students caught in the crossfire between Ukraine and Russia are being harrased, beaten, abused and actively prevented from leaving Ukraine. Yesterday, I had made a post lamenting how students are stranded near the Polish border, despite what the Polish government is claiming, but after going through many stories, I have realised that the resistance is largely coming from the Ukrainian border guards. This is not some isolated incident but multiple students from multiple parts of Ukraine are complaining that they are becoming victims of abuse and often, violence from the Ukrainian border guards. Please listen to me, this is not some Russian propaganda but actual first hand accounts from helpless students pleading for help, everyone of whom has the same thing to say: Everyone is being allowed to cross the borders except Indians. Yes, our government is not blameless in this debacle either, they are dragging their feet with the evacuation, there's literally zero ground support for the students in places like Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv from our Embassy, as of today, one Indian student has already lost his life to Russian shelling
Please share this. This apathy from our government and harrasment from the Ukrainian border guards are literally costing the students their lives. One of the most horrific stories has arrived from the Shehyani border where students were allegedly beaten with rods and an asthmatic student was beaten breathless. [It's described in the second video of this post]
I have linked several videos in this post and since most of them are in Hindi, I have included the translations with the timestamps right under each video. Neither Hindi nor English is my mother tongue so the grammar might be off at certain places but I have attempted to convey the meanings as faithfully as possible.
The audio of this one is slightly out of sync probably because I had to screen-record it from the live streaming channel of NDTV India on YouTube. Apologies for that. This video has footages where Ukrainian soldiers are allegedly kicking and thrashing Indian students.
[Reporter at 0:00] In between all of this, near the Ukrainian border, there have been allegations that Ukrainian soldiers are fighting with Indian students. You can see these kinds of pictures and many Indian students are informing us from there that they are being ill treated. [end at 0:17]
[Reporter at 0:40] And you can see another similar picture near Ukraine's border- how students and other people are being treated there. Although right now, this is a difficult situation for Ukraine. It's not easy for their soldiers to handle the situation. Such conditions are ripe for insanity. But it's the innocent people who often have to bear the brunt of it. [end at 1:02]
[Unknown male voice at 1:07] Look mate, how they are beating the girls [end at 1:08]
This has the audioclip of a student as she nearly sobs while relating her traumatic experience at the Shehyani border.
[Reporter at 0:00] And an Indian student has sent her audioclip from the Shehyani border of Ukraine and described the situation that she and others like her are facing there [end at 0:10]
[Female voice at 0:12] They surrounded the Ukrainians and were only sending the Ukrainians inside. After a lot of pleading from Indian boys, they only accepted the Indian girls first, and then the police came and the police beat the Indian boys badly. After beating the boys.... they even tortured the boys. And how did they torture? The one who had asthma, they stunned him and after that they showed all of us how he is breathless. After that, around 11 or 12 in the night, and after we came here, the guards who were here, in the line [audio cuts here and jumps to a different part in 1:00] When we went inside, then there was some game, something called hunter game that we were told to play, I don't know what that is. After going there, they were standing with rods, they were standing with guns, and after that they told us "this is... you have to play this game, then you will get your visas." And whoever were there, they kicked them, they hit them with their hands, both girls and boys, they aren't looking at anything here. [Audioclip ends at 1:31]
Here is a student saying how she and other Indian students are not being allowed to board the train in the Kyiv railway station.
Here is another student recounting her traumatic experience in the Ukrainian border. She spent around three days camped near the Polish border before being forced to return to her college because Ukrainian guards harrased and denied them access to Poland.
[Student at 1:04] Indian students are being tortured. They are not allowing us to get inside Poland. They have created barriers to stop us from getting into Poland where our Embassy is waiting for us. Even the Polish government is being very cooperative with us. But we are not being allowed to cross the border to Poland. Even the girls are being tortured. Like, they are pulling their hairs, they are beating them with sticks. Some girls are injured and have suffered fractures in their hands. The students are being kept at one place. There are no food or drinks. Even our Indian Embassy diplomats are helping us, supplying us with food and shelter in that critical condition. We sit there for 48 hours, for 2 to 3 days, but the guards there don't allow us to cross the border. Instead, if anyone tries to cross the border, they beat them with sticks. They are punching on their face. They are open firing, yesterday they open fired. One student narrowly escaped a bullet. [end at 2:21]
[Student at 2:33] We were waiting there for three days but we were not allowed to go. We were tortured very badly. They treated us like animals. They are letting their own citizens to leave but not us. Even our Embassy is trying their best. But they are not even allowing us to cross the border so they cannot do anything. [end at 3:01]
[Student at 3:35] But when we are not even being let across the border, when we are being stopped before then, so they are helpless. They are also helpless. They cannot do anything. They are trying their best. [End at 3:46]
[Student at 4:07] Our university is near the border. So we decided to head to this border. But since the situation here is bad, we need to plan an alternative now. [End at 4:17]
And yet another video of students unable to cross the border.
So yes, this is the situation. This is, by no means, an exhaustive list of videos. A simple youtube search will display many such similar stories.
I know the Ukrainians are going through literal hell right now but this is no excuse to treat innocent students caught in the crossfire like this. They are as blameless for this senseless war as any common Ukrainian.
And on a final note, if you use this post as an excuse to say things like "haha, serves them right being invaded by Russia", I will block you on sight.