Turkish student evacuated from Ukraine still traumatized by war

By Gulsem Adam and Basak Akbulut Yazar

ISTANBUL/ANTALYA, Turkiye (AA) - A Turkish university student who was recently evacuated from Ukraine says she is still traumatized by the war with Russia.

"I still have fears of attacks in my dreams. I wake up at night and say, 'Ok, I'm home' and then fall asleep," Buse Develi, who was studying psychology at a university in the city of Kharkiv, told Anadolu Agency.

Develi said she and other students thought that nothing would happen to them but that they woke up at midnight to the sounds of bombs exploding on the second day of the war.

"When we went out on the street, we encountered the true color of war. Everyone was trying to escape, gunshots were heard from everywhere," she said.

Develi noted that they were evacuated from the dormitory in Kharkiv and went to Donbas and came under attack from bombings there as well.

Noting that there was a shortage of food in Donbas, she said: "Markets accepted only cash, but we had no money. Our teachers helped us."

She said the place they were in was bombarded, adding that after the Russian bombardment on their area, they decided to get out of there.

"I shot a video and called my family. I said to my family that we may not be able to see each other anymore. The night we had this conversation, there was a bomb attack near our house," she said.

Develi said they reached the train station by hitchhiking and got on the train by threading through the crowd at the station.

Noting that the train was stopped three times by Russian soldiers and came under harassment fire, she said they had to travel in the dark.

"We made a 27-hour journey in the cold, without food and water. We arrived in Istanbul by bus from Romania," she said.

"I’m home right now, but whenever I hear a sound, I say, 'Oh! Something is going on!’ and my mother calms me down. I am psychologically worn out. People in Ukraine are in a very bad situation. Little children are crying while saying 'I don't want to die.’"

Ukrainian and Turkish nationals who fled Ukraine into Romania undergo medical screening by the Turkish National Medical Rescue Team at Romania’s Siret Border Gate, the Turkish Health Ministry announced Monday.

At a field hospital established by the Turkish Health Ministry at the border gate, a medical team of 10 people including a specialist doctor and an emergency care technician provide those who fled Ukraine with health service.

Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow, and spurred an exodus of global firms from Russia.

At least 406 civilians have been killed and 801 others injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, according to UN figures. But the international body has maintained that conditions on the ground have made it "difficult to verify" the true number of civilian casualties.

More than 1.7 million people have also fled to neighboring countries, the UN Refugee Agency said.