Bangladeshi students: Odyssey out of Kharkiv

Right after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, Bangladeshi medical student Fabiha Binte Mahbub was bunkered up in an underground subway station in the city of Kharkiv.

She is a fourth-year student of Kharkiv National Medical University.

The city -- Ukraine's second largest -- is located in the country's north-east. It is roughly a thousand kilometres from the Polish border.

The Russian military has been shelling Kharkiv since February 24, and the death toll is at several dozens, including an Indian medical student.

Fabiha spent the first day and a half of the Russian offence holed up underground. "The attack began at dawn. I woke up to the sound of intense shelling and found my bed shaking. I called my friends, and started crying ... It [the shelling] just wouldn't stop," she described.

Even though it quietened after a while, the Russians restarted the offence in the afternoon again.

"This time they were targeting missiles and mortar shells. From there on, the situation went downhill … I cannot describe in words how terrifying it is to be stuck in a bunker while the sky outside flashes with the light from explosions. At one point, we lost track of time."

When the shelling thinned out on the second day, Fabiha and her friends emerged from the underground bunker to restock food supplies. "Within 10 minutes of coming back home for supplies, the shelling began again. We ran back to the bunker with just the clothes on our back. That is when we realised the situation would just keep getting worse, and we must find an escape route."

Fabiha and three of her friends decided to head towards the Polish border -- but the journey was bound to be risky. How does one cross a thousand kilometres in a country at war?

With an aim to head towards Lviv – a border city -- they somehow made it to the railway station.

"As we queued outside to enter the station, the shelling began again and everybody made a mad dash towards the underground bunker."

With blasts just metres away, the crowds turned into a stampede. "I honestly thought we would get stomped to death," she said.

At least six Bangladeshis waited together on the rail platform but only four, including Fabiha, managed to board the train.

The others were first-year medical student Samiha, and second-year medical students Shifa and Yassir. The rest were forced to stay back at the station, unable to leave Kharkiv.

"The train could not hold the amount of people looking for a way out. But the authorities tried to ensure that people of all nationalities were able to board."

The 19-hour-long train journey was another endless nightmare.

"All the lights were switched off and the rail authorities told us not to have our GPS location or wifi on. Around us, there was a rain of missiles. Russian fighter jets are capable of detecting congregations of people and targeting their missiles accordingly. If we had our signals turned on, they would be able to locate the train," she explained.

Meanwhile, the authorities repeatedly urged all passengers to keep their window shut.

During a pit stop, everyone notices how the capital of Ukraine – Kyiv – had been ground to dust from attacks earlier in the day.

"The train usually stops at this city for an hour. But this time, it was only for around 15 minutes. But even those few minutes seemed never-ending," said Fabiha.

With fear at their throats, the four Bangladeshis counted seconds till they could leave the frightful city of Kyiv.

The shelling started to thin out the further they moved from Kyiv. After they landed in the city of Lviv, the next part of the journey was on foot.

The four friends walked for six hours in the freezing cold to reach the Poland border. Ukrainian nationals living on the road helped the tired travellers with food and water.

"When we reached the border, we realised to our dismay that there were no Bangladeshi embassy officials," said Fabiha. Unable to contact any official, they took shelter in a school.

"Food comprised of a small amount of rice and vegetables, while we each got a thin blanket to beat the cold. Steaming hot tea and biscuits flowed aplenty."

They spent two nights at this shelter before crossing the border on February 28.

Once inside Poland, Egyptian embassy officials allowed the Bangladeshis to board their Warsaw-bound bus.

The four friends were, at last, safe. But they had their thoughts and worries with those they had to leave behind.