Help us, we're stranded,' cry international students stuck in northeast Ukraine.

The chairman of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, informed Russian media that the two parties had agreed on humanitarian corridors for civilians as the second round of talks between a delegation from Russia and Ukraine in Belarus ended Thursday.

Mar 4, 2022 - 12:49 Updated: Mar 4, 2022 - 13:02

Help us, we're stranded,' cry international students stuck in northeast Ukraine.

"Help us, we are stranded," hundreds of international students caught in the Ukrainian city of Sumy by Russia's invasion have pleaded to the globe.

According to Vivian Udenze, a 21-year-old Nigerian medical student at Sumy State University, "This is the eighth day of the crisis. A large number of locations have been evacuated. There are almost 600 foreigners and students in our group."
She stated the majority of the group is made up of medical students from Nigeria, Morocco, Tanzania, Congo, and India, among other places.
Sumy is located in northeastern Ukraine, around 30 miles from the Russian border.

As fierce battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces rage across the country, Udenze told CNN via phone that she woke up to two loud explosions around 8 a.m. on Wednesday, and heard gunshots on Thursday. "I am so scared and time is running out. "We don't want the Russians to enter the city and meet us here. We need a humanitarian corridor so we can get out," she said.

The chairman of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, informed Russian media that the two parties had agreed on humanitarian corridors for civilians as the second round of talks between a delegation from Russia and Ukraine in Belarus ended Thursday.

More explosions were heard on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. local time, according to Udenze. According to her, the pupils no longer have access to electricity or running water as a result of the explosion.
The kids' escape is complicated by the fact that there is no public transit in Suny, which has been ravaged by fire in recent days, destroying roads and bridges.

'No one is talking about Sumy,' says the narrator.
Shivangi Shibu, a fifth-year medical student from India, told a similar story on Thursday. "We just heard some sirens," says the narrator. Over here, things are about to get a whole lot worse. "We don't have any other choice except to flee to the bunkers," she told CNN over the phone.
"No one is mentioning Sumy." We don't want to be a casualty of this war, so I'm hoping we'll be evacuated soon. "This is something we don't deserve," Shibu remarked.
"Though here is our second home, we still require the support of our family."We need to see them. We don't want to be involved with this politics ... The [only] solution is ... to allow us to go via the Russian border because we cannot travel to any other destination."

Later Thursday evening, Shibu shared a video from her university hostel window of what she said was an airstrike over Sumy. It shows a flash of stark light in the distance. "Electricity is gone," she wrote in the video's caption.

Excel Ugochukwu is a first-year Business Management student. The student, who is from Nigeria, told CNN: "Planes were flying overhead and a loud explosion. We just lost electricity."

He said the university has "asked everyone to stay put and in the shelters for now," but described a constant threat of danger that makes day-to-day life tense in the city.

"There is a curfew [from] 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. During curfew hours there are total blackouts. Street lights and lights inside the house are turned off," he told CNN.

"There are air strike warnings periodically and everyone moves to the bomb shelter," he added, before running to a nearby bomb shelter.

In a video sent to CNN, another Nigerian student at the university, Nnamdi Chukwuemeka pleaded: "We are trying to bring the attention of the world to the plight of students here in Sumy.

"Sumy is bordered by Russia, and as such, there is no way for us to escape. We want the international community to help provide a safe corridor for us to move out of Sumy. Things are getting serious," Chukwuemeka said.

Udenze claims she has been unable to contact any Nigerian diplomatic representatives.
CNN quoted her as saying: "Attempts have been made to contact them... I wrote a message to someone there, but I didn't receive a response."

Nigeria's foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, said when reached by CNN, "We are aware and are making arrangements."

In a statement to CNN, the Indian embassy in Moscow said it is "very concerned about the safety and security of Indian people trapped in (the) Kharkiv and Sumy regions" during the ongoing fighting.

"We have demanded that all parties safeguard the safety of the civilian areas where our students are stationed," the statement read. The embassy also stated that it is working closely with Russian officials to determine whether those nationals may be returned to India via Russia and that it has dispatched personnel to the Russian side of the border to prepare for their prospective evacuation.