Happy To Be Home, Worried About Future: What Indian Students Said After Evacuation From Ukraine

An Air India special flight, carrying 242 students who were stranded in Ukraine landed in the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Tuesday night.

The Dreamliner B-787 flew from Kharkiv in Ukraine to New Delhi as India, like most countries, is trying to ensure the safety of its citizens amid the worsening crisis there.

Delhi Airport/ Twitter

Air India on February 19 had announced that it would operate flights between India and Ukraine on February 22, 24 and 26. Booking of air tickets is open through Air India booking offices, website, call centres and authorised travel agents. According to the Indian embassy in Ukraine, additional flights from Kyiv to Delhi will operate on February 25, 27 (two flights) and March 6.

#WATCH | Air India special flight carrying around 242 passengers from Ukraine reaches Delhi pic.twitter.com/ctuW0sA7UY

¡ª ANI (@ANI) February 22, 2022

Most of the students who were pursuing MBBS in Ukraine said they did not face any difficulties, but decided to return to India as their families were concerned.

Delhi Airport/ Twitter

Students happy to return

Nirav Patil, a first-year MBBS student studying in Ukraine, said, "The situation is normal around the area where I live. While the university has started studies online so there is not much to worry as before."

Another student Krishna said, "I live 900 km away from the Ukraine-Russia border. We are around five to six students, who are residents of Gujarat. Our parents were getting quite worried. This is why we had to return to India."

"We had received the Indian embassy advisory on our official WhatsApp group. It said students should leave the country temporarily given the current situation in Ukraine, so, we followed the advisory and left," Apoorva Bhushan from Ranchi who is a student at Bogomolets National Medical University in Kyiv said.

A parent from Amritsar expressed joy at his daughter's return, saying, "We are very happy that our kid is back with us. We were very nervous."

BCCL

"Many parents were stressed about the prevailing situation. So, it is very good that we are back with our parents," said Muskan, another student.

Some worried though

Some of the students have returned to India are worried about their studies while some said they had also recently seen a tank used in a war in the city where they lived.

Swati, who is a second-year MBBS student, on returning to Delhi, said, "The situation is normal in Ukraine and I was living a completely normal life there. The people residing there are not worried at all about the Russia-Ukraine tensions."

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"The reason for many students like me returning to India is because of my parents. They were quite mentally disturbed and were worried about my well-being. Now since I have returned back home, our studies will suffer too. But the university where I was studying will start holding online classes. I have exams scheduled for next year."

Another student Tanvi, who is an MBBS student, arrived in Delhi and spoke about the tense situation in Ukraine, saying, "The situation is pretty worse in Ukraine, I am quite distressed. Children studying here are living in fear, every day different kind of news is coming to fore as one is not able to come to judge which ones to believe. At the same time, air tickets have also become quite expensive."

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