Ukraine conflict: Nigerian students trapped in Kherson

Scores of African students who remain trapped in Ukraine have been sheltering in basements since the war started.

The war in Ukraine has forced more than two million to flee, many more remain stranded.

"We passed some critical areas already bombed and got to the checkpoint. Then, about 15 meters away from us, they [Russian troops] pointed [weapons] at us," Jeremiah Akpan, a Nigerian student stranded in Ukraine in Kherson, told DW . Kherson, a port city of roughly 290,000 people near the Black Sea, was one of the first to fall to Russian forces in early March.

"They did not say any word; they pointed at us, both the tanks and those people with guns," Akpan said. There were five young men in the vehicle: the driver, a Palestinian, three Egyptians, and himself. "There was a guy that took an Egyptian flag, so he started waving the flag. They asked us to turn back without saying a word. Just hand signs that we should go back. So, we came back. The first failed escape attempt happened on February 24 when the war had started, Akpan, a second-year maritime navigation student, recalled.

Hunkered in a bunker

Back in Kherson, Akpan sought a hiding spot in the basement of his school. Still hopeful, the following day, Akpan and three others phoned a taxi driver who was outside Kherson. There were roadblocks everywhere, but he agreed to come for the students, despite the risks involved. So another journey to exit Kherson began. They had driven a short distance before Russian soldiers stopped them again.

The driver alighted, moved towards the soldiers, and begged, pleading that the young men were international students. "But they kept shouting and pushed him by the chest. I don't know what they were saying. It was so terrible," Akpan said. "Finally, they came with the driver, and they deflated the tires. I don't know what their argument was."

The young men quickly left the taxi, moved to the other side of the road, and watched in silence with their hearts in their mouths. After deflating the tires, the soldiers left. Luckily, the driver had extra tires, so he changed them. But unfortunately, this driver, too, returned Akpan and his colleagues to Kherson for the second time. Akpan retreated to the basement, and other people joined him to seek refuge. Since then, different people have called him and sent other foreigners to join him in the basement or to seek assistance from him. The numbers kept increasing daily. As of March 15, there were 87 people on Akpan's list. As the head of the international students union in Kherson, he was responsible for them all. Nigeria says there are still around 80 students in Kherson awaiting evacuation.

Abducted and held alongside Ukrainians

On March 13, there was a third attempt to flee Kherson. Four international students decided to take a gamble. Akpan was not among them and had no idea when they had left. He said he would have discouraged them from going on their own. When they arrived at the third checkpoint, they were ordered out of the taxi by the [Russian] soldiers. The military men checked their passports and bags, then ordered them to return their luggage to the cab.

The driver was forced to return to Kherson while the students were blindfolded and held inside a military tank for about two hours. Then the soldiers drove the tank to an unknown destination. After some time, they were shoved into a building. When the soldiers finally untied them, they found themselves in a dark room with some Ukrainians. The place was messy and stunk of human feces and urine.

At around 9 p.m., some soldiers came and blindfolded the four young men again and put them in another vehicle provided by the Russian troops. Akpan thinks the soldiers sensed the taxi driver's return to Kherson without the four students would be a cause for alarm. The soldiers drove them to a village and dumped them there. Then, they told the four to find their way back to Kherson. After walking throughout the chilly winter night, they arrived in Kherson on foot at almost noon the next day. "That is how they were able to get back to Kherson and they gave me information about the movement," Akpan told DW .

Darker days ahead

Danielle Ijeoma Onyekwere, co-founder of Diaspora Relief, a nonprofit working in conjunction with the Nigerian embassy in Hungary to evacuate students from Ukraine, told DW the situation in Kherson is more complicated than Sumy was. She said the Russian soldiers have not only overtaken the whole of Kherson but are in every nook and cranny of the city. As a result, Kherson residents are afraid to even step out of their apartments.

Onyekwere advised that no student should attempt evacuating on their own. "I don't advise attempting to evacuate without governments being involved." She also advised the students against being aggressive to the soldiers. "I am strongly against any form of force with the military. That is what I have warned these students. I told them you need to be nice because you don't want things to escalate," she said, encouraging those still trapped to speak nicely to the soldiers. "Don't try to force your way out."

Onyekwere said she senses the students have lost hope and trust but promised that help is indeed on the way. Some students are very ill and fear their health will plunder further. In addition, the students fear Kherson will come under more intense bombing very soon. For Akpan, help should come sooner rather than later. "We were able to get information that Russians are recruiting more troops down here. So it's going to be so, so messy, that is why we are shouting and asking for help now that they can still help us," Akpan said.