image source,Shen Yu
In Ukraine’s Sumy region, supermarket food supplies are not keeping up with demand.
In the eighth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chinese student Shen Yu is still stranded in the dangerous northeastern region of Sumy. In her 20s, in addition to going downstairs every day to buy restricted bread, she spends a lot of time comforting younger international students.
“Emotional breakdown, unwilling to accept outside information,” Shen Yu said. As far as she knows, there are currently about 200 Chinese students from three universities in the Samui area who are still trapped in the local area and unable to leave, and panic is spreading.
Almost every day she could hear tank bombing and machine gun fire. Just a few hours before the interview, at six in the morning, she was woken up by the “clear sound of missiles flying by.” Soon, the Ukrainians upstairs hurried downstairs and hid in the basement.
A minute later, a friend from Sumy Agricultural University came to the news: “Many students were awakened by the shock, and the next door was bombed.”
The Sumy area where Shen Yu is located is only about 50 miles from the Russian border, where the Russian and Ukrainian armies are fighting fiercely. Russian tanks entered the area on the 24th of last month. The next day, a kindergarten was reportedly attacked and children were injured. Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform reported on the 3rd of this month that in some towns in the region, Russian troops began looting shops and homes.
The main transportation from Samui to surrounding cities has been cut off, and supplies can only be purchased in cash. Shen Yu’s cash is running out, and the food is slowly running out. Students who live on campus sleep in small air raid shelters every day, and live on limited supplies provided by the school. “Some young people cry non-stop.”
‘We lost the best time to save ourselves’
Shen Yu had the opportunity to leave Ukraine before the war broke out. Just a few weeks before the Russian invasion, a friend who worked in Su Mei was sent by the company to another country. He warned Shen Yu that Su Mei was at great risk and invited her to seek refuge. But Shen Yu saw the news that the Chinese embassy in Uzbekistan had not issued a risk warning, so he declined.
image source,Shen Yu
In supermarkets in the Koh Samui area, only two pieces of bread are allowed per day.
The United Kingdom and the United States closed their embassies in Ukraine in mid-February and urged their citizens to leave Ukraine as soon as possible. The Chinese embassy in Uzbekistan has not issued an appeal to leave the country. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on February 14 that the Chinese embassy in Uzbekistan has issued a consular reminder to instruct local Chinese citizens and institutions to pay close attention to changes in the situation in Uzbekistan and increase their awareness of safety precautions.
On February 24, the first day of the Russian invasion, Shen Yu saw the embassy warn that the situation was deteriorating and security risks were rising. On the same day, some countries were organizing the evacuation of overseas Chinese, but China still did not have an official evacuation operation.
Shen Yu looked forward to it. On the 25th, the embassy finally issued a notice to arrange a chartered flight to bring back Chinese citizens, calling for registration as soon as possible. This time, Shen Yu “injected a reassurance”.
Before long, however, the war began to deteriorate. On the 28th, the Russian army shelled a military base in the Sumy region, and it was reported that more than 700 Ukrainian soldiers were killed. The local train station was also damaged. The official evacuation that Shen Yu was looking forward to has never arrived.
She contacted the embassy again in early March and was told that the local situation was complicated and that she could not come, and was advised to evacuate on her own. However, at this time, the students alone cannot leave. “We are not only unable to evacuate, we are stuck here.”
Shen Yu said that almost all the Chinese in the Sumui area are students. There are no Chinese chambers of commerce, associations and other organizations that can help, and there is no bus willing to go out.
“We believe in the motherland and the embassy, but the embassy’s actions make us unable to save ourselves,” Shen Yu said word by word, sounding quite angry. “We lost the best time to save ourselves.”
She called for emergency rescue, “provide substantial help”, “even if you can’t come, please tell us where is the safe evacuation route”, she spoke earnestly on the other end of the phone.
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“Ukraine is my second hometown”
Compared with Shen Yu, Lisa, a Chinese student who is still in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is luckier. She lives on the outskirts of Kyiv, some distance from the center of the firefight, and is fairly safe. However, amid the constant prevention and control alarms and bombings, she couldn’t control her emotions, and sent several crying expressions in succession, begging “don’t fight again”.
Lisa now lives with her husband in an elderly Ukrainian home with several cats. She originally planned to get married, have children, and settle down like this, but she never imagined that she had experienced a war herself.
In the early morning of the 24th, Lisa, who was sleeping, was awakened by a loud noise. “It felt like the glass shook violently.” She shook her husband beside her in a daze and asked him if he was delusional. “I thought I was asleep, but suddenly I shook violently again.” Now even my husband felt that something had happened.
image source,Li Sha
Lisa, a Chinese student, said that she did not take any photos during the war, “just wanted to leave the most beautiful side of Ukraine”.
They immediately checked the news, only to find that Russian troops had begun to attack the Ukrainian border area. While reporting safety to her similarly terrified Chinese family, Lisa wondered if she was dreaming, “Is this really the 21st century?”
Lisa left China to study in Ukraine when she was a teenager, and stayed there for more than ten years. Along the way, the Ukrainians have given her big and small help, and she is still very grateful to this day.
“Ukraine is my second hometown. The people here are very friendly. It can be said that without their help, I would not be where I am today,” she said, choking.
When Lisa was interviewed, the war had entered its sixth day, but she still does not want to believe that the war has been ignited in Ukraine. It breaks her heart to think that the country she loves is under fire. “It’s like my house was hit,” the other end of the phone fell silent.
After the war broke out, Lisa’s teacher sent a message from the dugout asking if she was safe. Her Ukrainian colleagues also warned her to protect herself. The landlord, the old Ukrainian lady, repaired the air defense security facilities in the basement, and told Lisa to go downstairs at any time in case of any situation.
After the curfew was lifted, Lisa drove to the supermarket, and the local traffic police were still kindly guiding her. In the cold winter, she was shivering from the cold while waiting for her husband to line up. A local person came to tell her that there was a heater behind the second floor door, so don’t catch a cold.
It all made Lisa feel very warm. If the flames of war can’t burn where she lives, she doesn’t plan to leave for the time being. “I won’t leave here unless I have to.” She always felt that the war would end soon and the days would be as beautiful as ever.
At present, Ukraine’s airspace has been closed, and some Chinese have fled to Moldova and other places on the border by themselves, and some people have left with the embassy’s evacuation team. In addition to considering the risks on the way to leave, Lisa said that the embassy has its own difficulties in evacuating overseas Chinese, and neighboring countries are also receiving refugees in overload, “I don’t want to cause trouble.”
There are Ukrainian classmates around her who have taken up guns to protect the country, and a friend’s brother has died. “They are all in their early 20s, and they are all alive. If you say they are gone, they will be gone.”
She appealed: “Please don’t make fun of the war, don’t make fun of the war.”
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“Enemies on the back”
Shen Yu in Sumei has the same reverence for life in war. She said that in addition to the potential security risks posed by the Russian military, some extreme remarks on Chinese social media also increase the risk of Chinese students stranded in Ukraine.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Chinese social media was flooded with pro-Russian and anti-American rhetoric. Some people even ridiculed Ukrainian women, saying that they are “willing to accept Ukrainian beauties”. In some parts of Ukraine, some Chinese students were reportedly splashed with water on the street, and some were even threatened. There are also Chinese people who said on social media that they “don’t dare to say that they are Chinese”.
“Enemies on the back and belly,” Shen Yu described the situation of the local Chinese.
Where she lives, local Ukrainians are extremely friendly to foreigners, but she’s not sure if “their attitudes will change if these remarks continue to ferment.”
“Most civilians can carry guns at the moment, and we’re not sure if these civilians with guns will do anything extreme against us.”
“Please Chinese media people and Weibo commentators, think about it before you make (remarks), there are still many Chinese and overseas Chinese in Ukraine. Originally, the danger was only from war, but now these comments have spread to Ukraine, and there are many potential people around us. Dangerous.” Shen Yu said emotionally.
According to the reporter’s understanding, many Chinese still in Ukraine have set up mutual aid groups on WeChat to try to save themselves. Some people help to count the information of the stranded people, some people organize chartered cars, some people remind everyone to prepare more food, some people ask for help for the students in danger…
For Shen Yu, who is still trapped in Su Mei, “I can only wait a day.”
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(Respect the wishes of the respondents, Shen Yu and Lisa are pseudonyms in the text)