It's a rebirth for all of us says Telugu students on returning from war-torn Ukraine

Vijayawada: The turmoil the Telugu students underwent before being evacuated from the war zone of Ukraine still haunts them.

"It is certainly a rebirth for us," the students told The Hans India on Saturday. Around 1,100 students from Ukraine reached New Delhi on Saturday morning and of them 83 were from Andhra Pradesh. The evacuation, they said, was a long-drawn process. It began on February 28 and, finally, they landed on the soil of India on Saturday, they said.

Narrating their woes, the students including girls, who spent sleepless nights hunkering down in bunkers amidst the deafening sounds of missiles and bombs, said it was a harrowing experience. There was shortage of water and food and even availability of toilets was difficult at times. A student K Gowtam Chand, son of a retired teacher from Machilipatnam studying fifth year medicine at Zaporizhzhia University, said that around 1,600 Indian students were studying in Zaporizhzhia University.

"The university authorities performed mock drills by giving training to us on how to escape to bunkers with a simple handbag of food, water and important documents within no time after the wailing of sirens. They were thankful to the university as they could safety hurry to bunkers during night as soon as they heard bombing nearby. They gave up all hopes when they heard that Russian troops had reached nearby nuclear power plant.

Waheed of Kurnool studying fifth year medicine at the same university said they now feel greatly relieved. He said at one point of time they had lost hopes of coming back to motherland. Rani from Tenali stated that, "we must salute both the central and the state governments for their efforts to bring us back safely." She said the last ten days turned to be worst experience for parents. The war got intensified and they felt helpless. All that they could do was pray for safe return of the students. The students profusely thanked all those who helped them reunite with their families.

Dr Venkateswara Rao of Gannavaram who reached AP Bhavan in New Delhi to receive his daughter Tulasi, a final year medicine student, said they would be grateful to the Government of India, Indian embassy officials and the AP government for their efforts to bring their wards home.