How might we evacuate.
Sumy ryt now is stranded, there are no means of evacuation as the rails-way has been bombed,Russians come in and out of city! So traveling by road is about the most dangerous coupled with the fact that there is no means of getting a vehicle SaveSumyStudents
— @Jana_Kalaaji (Jana Kalaaji 🕊) · https://twitter.com/Jana_Kalaaji/status/1499183333514878977
How do you evacuate when you can’t move?
📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Q-dkmZ16k
Can’t use the roads; they’ll put a gun in your face and send you back where you came from.
Can’t use the bridges; they’ve been destroyed to prevent the Russians from quickening their advance.
Definitely can’t fly out; the airspace is perhaps the most dangerous option at this point. There are even reports of The Red Cross being tossed aside during the heat of the battle over Sumy, Ukraine, a once-picturesque town right on the border of Russia.
Clouds hang ominously over The Church of the Resurrection in Sumy, Ukraine.
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Just a couple months ago, foreign medical students from Ghana, Nigeria, India and Pakistan were focused on their final exams. Today, some of them don’t even know where their next meal is going to come from.
“We the students of Sumy University are tired, we are tired and we are exhausted.” SaveSumyStudents UkraineCrisis
— @attractfunding (So you want to…) · https://twitter.com/attractfunding/status/1498710019658895361
On Tuesday, SpookyTheManiac, a vocalist from Takoradi, Ghana, was awakened by his friend who was studying medicine in Sumy, Ukraine. Overnight, things went from bad to worse to critical, and his friend was desperate for a way out. But with the roads, bridges, and airspace locked down, they didn’t have any options. Furthermore, with supplies being progressively locked off from the Western town of Sumy which lies close to vacuum-bombed Kharkiv, even water was becoming a precious resource.
I want to give you guys a proper update on the situation in Sumy right now. I just need to rest a bit but savesumystudents has to be our priority. The situation in Sumy is heartbreaking.
— @korrinesky (Koko 🇺🇦) · https://twitter.com/korrinesky/status/1499189281251803142
Spooky did the only thing he could do - he opened up a TwitterSpace - an open mic on Twitter where anyone can join in a conversation - and called it SaveSumyStudents. Soon after, the med students from Sumy started pouring into the TwitterSpace open mic, sharing their stories one after another. As footage rolled in, videos were quickly edited and subtitled because heck - it’s not like anyone reads anymore.
Click here to play recording and listen to the students yourself.
When listening to the recording above, check out these key stories using the following timestamps:
6:00 Sanaullah gets a gun pointed at him at a checkpoint.
12:30 “If they see you outside, they will consider you an enemy.”
39:00 “Does anyone trust the University to help?” (39:36 sound byte)
40:00 “I don’t trust them to help us leave.”
1:01:40 - “I don’t think they’ll be enough food left.”
1:02:20 - “There’s not even water.”
1:03:00 - Bridge destroyed; only route leads to Kharkiv. They want to go south to Potlava but it’s not about whether you get to the border but rather if the people on the border let you through.
SaveSumyStudents Canada Phone Number for Ukrainian refugees Call +1 613-996-8885
— @attractfunding (So you want to…) · https://twitter.com/attractfunding/status/1498670064429633540
The result? The top major news outlets in North America joined the TwitterSpace open mic. Soon after, the audience members were being interviewed by the New York Times over Zoom. Major Canadian news outlets have reached out are in the process of verifying the footage before creating stories. Given that Canada accepted more Syrian refugees than any other country, Canada is a highly sough-after refuge and there’s a hotline for Ukrainian refugees available right now.
In our latest NYTimes video, we hear from medical students who are surrounded by fighting at their university in northeastern Ukraine—hundreds unable to return home.
— @rarecanary (Caroline Kim) · https://twitter.com/rarecanary/status/1499486914151387138
Have the students been evacuated? No, far from it. They’re still exactly where they were yesterday; in a bunker, hoping the next blast isn’t as close as the last one.
However, given that they’re crossing the river while feeling the stones (we can thank Xiaopeng for that quote), they figure it’s best to prepare for the time when they can have a safe passage out.
📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4cTJIeAAUM
If luck is when opportunity meets preparedness, you can’t get lucky if you’re not prepared.
More as this story develops. Updates below.
Astonishing bravery
March 7, 2022
NEW: Two Scottish gardeners rescue Irish and 2 Nigerian students from Sumy in treachourous solo evacuation mission. They were held at gunpoint on journey. One tells me “it was worth it”. Here’s Racheal Diyaolu in the back of the van! Delighted, she is.
— @lisaocarroll (Lisa O’Carroll 🇺🇦) · https://twitter.com/lisaocarroll/status/1500922859710988289
What started on TwitterSpaces ended up in the NYT and CNN.
In our latest NYTimes video, we hear from medical students who are surrounded by fighting at their university in northeastern Ukraine—hundreds unable to return home.
— @rarecanary (Caroline Kim) · https://twitter.com/rarecanary/status/1499486914151387138
Spoke to Stranded Indian studnts in Sumy state Ukraine .Huge explosion near studnts hostel, Everyone is frightened, anxious. No availability of Light. Studnts took ice frm outside hostel & now melting it for drinking, as there is no water available. @Nidhi @_sayema @alishan_jafri
— @NasirKhuehami (Nasir Khuehami (ناصر کہویہامی)) · https://twitter.com/NasirKhuehami/status/1499683597934301186
Hundreds of international students trapped in the Ukrainian city of Sumy by Russia’s invasion have appealed to the world: “Help us, we are stranded.”
— @CNN (CNN) · https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1499637017189228548
Medical students at a university in Sumy, Ukraine, saw their school become a war zone overnight. They have no way to travel home and are hoping that authorities can create a safe corridor for them to evacuate. nyti.ms/3vyP0zZ
— @nytimes (The New York Times) · https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1499536376043343874
Update (March 9th) Happy to report that Michael, the individual featured in the NYT story, has made it to safety.
📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylfJA6PO9I4
The Sumy State University 🇺🇦 students I hosted in my @TwitterSpaces through which a story was done by the @nytimes have all been successfully been evacuated. I’m so excited by the power of social audio and the power of positive thinking coupled with good hearts. Thank you all
— @SpOOkyTheManiaC (Gabriel Ohene Kwasi Addai ) · https://twitter.com/SpOOkyTheManiaC/status/1501566237490524160
ONGOING STORY (March 9, 2022)
Russia Ukraine War: India Evacuates All 700 Students From Ukraine’s Sumy | CNBC-TV18
— @PrahladbhaiPra4 (Prahladbhai Prajapati) · https://twitter.com/PrahladbhaiPra4/status/1501692900102787072
On March 9, more than 2,000 women, children, and foreigners were evacuated from the city by rail. And about 1,200 more people, evacuated from Sumy , arrived in Lviv by train, Ukrzaliznytsia reports. Original post: StandWithUkraine
— @Now_in_Ukraine (Now in Ukraine) · https://twitter.com/Now_in_Ukraine/status/1501704802220318723
Evacuation of civilians from Sumy Ukraine RussiaConflict Ukraine RussiaUkraine War UkraineUnderAttack UkraineRussia UkraineInvasion UkraineUnderAttaсk RussiaUkraineWar RussiaUkraine RussianArmy RussiaUkraine russianinvasion RussianWarCrimes
— @The5HbK (The HbK) · https://twitter.com/The5HbK/status/1501678046746918912
My friend is finally outta Sumy, She’s knackered, she’s traumatized, she’s weak asf — but safe and healthy, the craziest part, She tells me “I miss Ukraine”. Thank you Jesus. 😩😩🙏🏽 Thank you 🇭🇺 😍
— @donCroix (døn Crōss 🦁) · https://twitter.com/donCroix/status/1501697604425592839
Addendum
I was chatting with one of my professors about this story, and I told him how wonderfully and awfully the flat the world was.
Gabriel aka SpookyTheManiac gets a call, opens up an open mic where students can tell their stories with their voices, and within hours North America’s largest news outlets are picking up the story.
The World is Flat was a popular book 20 years ago which prophesized a world with seamless, frictionless interpersonal communications. That time has come to pass.
Back in the day, to be a major comedian you had to go on Letterman or Leno. Now, given the seamless nature of communication, niche creators are leveraging a distribution network that Letterman and Leno never dreamt of. I guess in a lot of ways, it puts their business to sleep.
During the TwitterSpace with the med students from Sumy, there were more than a few people who thought was Spooky was doing was a complete waste of time.
@attractfunding @kittytreats @kurtwuckertjr @CarolinaBolado @TwitterMoments @OhioState @MarySmithNews @JessiStarkey @wsyx6 if they coordinate it wont be over fucking spaces
— @noonenowhere39 (nothing) · https://twitter.com/noonenowhere39/status/1499400000102567942
@attractfunding @kurtwuckertjr @CarolinaBolado @TwitterMoments Lol at you assholes pretending to care
— @noonenowhere39 (nothing) · https://twitter.com/noonenowhere39/status/1499391090520211456
Is it better to lose or quit?
The Sumy State University 🇺🇦 students I hosted in my @TwitterSpaces through which a story was done by the @nytimes have all been successfully been evacuated. I’m so excited by the power of social audio and the power of positive thinking coupled with good hearts. Thank you all
— @SpOOkyTheManiaC (Gabriel Ohene Kwasi Addai ) · https://twitter.com/SpOOkyTheManiaC/status/1501566237490524160