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On train to Lviv
FROM PAGE 1
Bangladeshis and around 700 Indian students on a journey to Poltava, a city located on the Vorskla river in central Ukraine.
“There were fears of bullets, bombs and deaths. The buses were overcrowded. My wife, my children and I had to keep standing almost all the way,” he said.
“But this suffering was nothing compared to the joy of being alive.”
It took them 12 hours to reach Poltava though it’s normally no more than three hours’ journey. The green channel arranged for civilians was zigzag and the vehicles moved slowly.
Their buses had the symbols of the Red Cross, so they faced no troubles on the way, he added.
Talking to The Daily Star over WhatsApp around 3:00pm yesterday (Bangladesh time), he said now they felt safe as they headed to Lviv.
After crossing the Ukraine-Poland border, it will take some six hours to reach Warsaw, the capital of Poland, which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and other foreigners who fled the war.
Asked about his days in Sumy, he said they had to hole up in the bunkers whenever they heard sirens. Every day, they had to remain in bunker for four to six hours.
With the power stations hit by Russian bombing, there were no water supplies and electricity. The temperature was minus 5 degrees Celsius.
“I cannot say how painful it was to live in the shivering cold without any hitting system,” he said.
He said Russian troops bombed an area only some 150m away from his residence. Some 22 people including two children were killed in the bombing. “We could also be among the 22 people if we were not rescued.”
Rubaiyat said he had no words to express his gratitude to Bangladesh Ambassador to Poland Sultana Laila Hussain.
“Our ambassador maintained contact with us day and night. She was reachable whenever we called her. She supported us, gave us mental support. We are extremely grateful to her,” he said.
“We are indebted to Ambassador Sultana.”
Contacted, Ambassador Sultana said the embassy was working to rescue all Bangladeshis, not only the nine.
“We had been in touch with the Red Cross and Indians. We had requested the Indian officials to evacuate them with the Indians. We thank the Indian officials and Red Cross,” she said.
Sultana said some more Bangladeshis were still stranded in Ukraine and they were trying to evacuate them.

Chinese-linked hackers target six US states: report
AFP, San Francisco
At least six US states have been targeted by hackers linked to China who exploited vulnerabilities in web programs, cybersecurity company Mandiant said in a report.
Notorious Chinese hacking group APT41 has been targeting US states in a tenacious and adaptive campaign, according to Mandiant.
From last May to this February, the group compromised at least six state government networks by exploiting vulnerabilities in internet-facing programs including an animal health reporting app, the report said.
Victims and data targeted by hackers were “consistent with an espionage operation” Mandiant said, but did not rule out that the motive could have been money given the group’s “history of moonlighting for personal financial gain.”
According to Mandiant, APT41 quickly adapted attacks to take advantage of new computer vulnerabilities that were made public.
For example, within hours of Apache Foundation announcing a critical flaw, the hackers began taking advantage of it and compromised at least two US state governments “as well as their more traditional targets in the insurance and telecommunications industries,” the Mandiant report said.
Mandiant researchers described APT41 as highly resourceful.
“APT41’s recent activity against US state governments consists of significant new capabilities,” the researchers said.
Beijing said that it “firmly opposes any form of hacking attacks and cracks down on them in accordance with the law.”
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing that authorities would not “encourage, support or condone” such acts, while charging that the US has been spreading false information about China.
The global hacking collective has been accused by US authorities of targeting company servers for ransom, compromising government networks and spying on Hong Kong activists.
Seven members of the group -- including five Chinese nationals -- were charged by the US Department of Justice in late 2020 with being involved in hacking more than 100 companies around the world.
Targets included computer hardware manufacturers, telecommunications providers, social media firms, video game companies, non-profit organizations, universities, think tanks, foreign governments and pro-democracy politicians, according to justice officials.
“We assess that China presents the broadest, most active, and persistent cyber espionage threat to US government and private sector networks,” said a threat assessment report released this week by the office of the US director of national intelligence.
Google announced Tuesday a deal to acquire Mandiant for about $5.4 billion, one of the tech giant’s biggest purchases ever as it works to bolster its cloud computing offer.
Mandiant, which helps customers prepare for or deal with cyberattacks, is expected to join Google Cloud this year, if the acquisition is approved by regulators.