Hundreds of international students stranded in the Ukrainian city of Sumy by Russia's invasion have appealed to the world: "Help us, we are stranded."
Vivian Udenz, 21, a Nigerian medical student at Sumi State University, told CNN: "It's the 8th day since the crisis began. A lot of places have been evacuated. There are more than 600 of us foreigners and students "
She said most of the group are medical students, and they are from Nigeria, Morocco, Tanzania, Congo and India, among other countries.
Sumy is located in the northeast of Ukraine, only 30 miles from the border with Russia.
Amid fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces across the country, Udenz told CNN via phone that she woke up to two loud explosions around 8 a.m. Wednesday and heard gunshots on Thursday. “I am very scared and time is running out.” We do not want the Russians to enter the city and meet us here. We need a humanitarian corridor so that we can get out."
After a second round of talks between a delegation from Russia and Ukraine in Belarus ended on Thursday, Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, told Russian media that the two sides have agreed humanitarian corridors for civilians.
Udenje later told CNN that more explosions were heard at around 6.30 p.m. local time on Thursday evening. He said that now the students have no electricity or water after the blast.
Complaining of students fleeing is the fact that there is no public transport available in Sunny, which has come under heavy fire in recent days, destroying roads and bridges.
'No one is talking about Sumi'
Shivangi Shibu, a Class V medical student and Indian national, shared a similar story on Thursday. "We just heard some sirens. The situation here is going to get worse very soon. We have no other option, so we just have to run to the bunkers," she told CNN over the phone.
Shibu said, "No one is talking about Sumi. I hope we get out there soon because we don't want to be casualties in this war. We don't deserve it."
"It's our second home but we still need our family. We need to see them. We don't want to get involved in this politics... [the only] solution is... we need to go through Russian The border is allowed as we cannot travel to any other destination."
Later on Thursday evening, Shibu shared the video from the window of his university dorm of what he said was an airstrike on Sumi. It shows a flash of bright light in the distance. "The power went out," she wrote in the caption of the video.
Electricity is gone and A view from window of my hostel right now video captured at 6:30. Hope we evacuate before some big casualty #airstrike #sumyevacuationviaRussiaBorder #sumy @PMOIndia @DrSJaishankar @opganga @MEAIndia @chitraaum @BBCWorld @timesofindia pic.twitter.com/8XopSYdMpi
— Shivangi shibu (@IndShivangi) March 3, 2022
Axel Ugochuku is a first year business management student. "The planes were flying overhead and there was a loud bang. We lost power," the Nigerian student told CNN.
He said the university "has asked everyone to stay in more shelters for now," but described the constant threat of danger making day-to-day life stressful in the city.
"There is a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. There are total blackouts during curfew hours. Street lights and lights are turned off indoors," he told CNN.
"There are air strike warnings from time to time and everyone goes to the bomb shelters," he said, before going to a nearby bomb shelter.
In a video sent to CNN, Nnamdi Chukuwemeka, another Nigerian student at the university, pleaded: "We are trying to draw the world's attention to the plight of the students here in Sumi.
"Sumi is bordered by Russia, and as such, we have no escape route. We want the international community to help provide us with a safe corridor to exit Sumi," Chukuwemeka said. Things are getting serious.
Udenje said she had not been able to reach any representative of the Nigerian embassy.
She told CNN: "People tried to contact them ... I personally sent a message to someone there [but] I didn't get a reply."
When contacted by CNN, Nigeria's Foreign Minister Geoffrey Oniyama said: "We are aware and are making arrangements."
The Indian Embassy in Moscow said in a statement to CNN that it is deeply concerned about the safety of Indian nationals stranded in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions during the ongoing conflict.
"We have requested both sides to ensure that the civilian areas in which our students are located are kept safe," the statement said. The embassy said it was working closely with the Russian authorities to see if those nationals could be brought back to India through Russia, and teams on the Russian side of the border to prepare for their possible evacuation. Was sent.