Ukraine: looking for a way to India

Surbhi, who had cleared the highly competitive National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medicine, decided to pursue a medical degree in Ukraine because it was far more affordable and far less competitive than in India.

In December 2020, she obtained her admission in Kharkiv National Medical University, but the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. Within months, universities across Ukraine moved to distance learning.

Surbhi went back to India but returned to Ukraine again in September. Here, he rented an apartment in Kharkiv with two friends, one from Kolkata and the other from Ludhiana.

Over the past decade, Ukraine has become the preferred destination for thousands of aspiring students from India who wish to study medicine. Ease of access and cost – 70% less than in India – has been the main attraction. Due to this a large number of agencies in different parts of India have facilitated admission in the universities of Ukraine.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, has a population of 14 million, of whom at least 100,000 are students. But little did Surbhi and the others know that six months after the in-person class began, they would be caught in the crossfire of a bloody war as Russia invaded Ukraine. Thousands of Indian students stranded in Ukraine are struggling to get out.

enemy at the Gates

Russia’s full military offensive on Ukraine entered its seventh day on Wednesday. Kharkiv, in Ukraine’s northeast, not far from the Russian border, has come under intense shelling. As they watch gruesome images of death and destruction in Kharkiv on their screens, the people of Ukraine are getting a glimpse of what will happen to other cities if the war does not end.

Ukraine’s government said on Tuesday that eight people were killed in a Russian airstrike on a residential building in the city. Earlier, Russian missiles destroyed an administrative building, killing an Indian student.

Their first talks since the start of the war failed to achieve a breakthrough on Monday, with Russia continuing to indiscriminately target residential areas in Kharkiv. That day, the curfew was lifted for a few hours, allowing residents to stock up on groceries and essentials before returning to shelter in temporary bunkers in their building basements.

Surbhi had just returned to her apartment after buying biscuits and flour. Even from afar she could see rising smoke and could hear the sound of bombs detonating. “We had to go to a supermarket near the metro station. There were long queues when the market opened. We had stocked up on biscuits, and as soon as I entered the apartment, we got a warning that there would be heavy shelling,” Surbhi told Mint over a WhatsApp call.

Via the call, the 22-year-old described life in the war zone as his university town until a week ago. Shock and fear have given rise to the survival instinct, as Surbhi and her friends seemed to be passing each day in some way or the other. “We pack our bags, fill water bottles and prepare meals that will last us all day,” she said. When the sirens sound and the explosions come to a close, the students flee to the basement of the building. “Over the past two days we’ve felt the bombing approaching. We know it because our window panes are rattling,” she said. Our call lasted for 10 minutes. Surbhi told me, “I will charge my phone now and call you in the evening.”

death of a student

On 28 February, several students from Kharkiv packed their suitcases in an attempt to catch a train from Naukova station on the Kharkiv metro line to the capital Kyiv in the country’s north-central region. On reaching the station, they were told that foreign nationals would not be allowed to board the train.

I called in the evening to see how Surbhi and her friends were doing, only to see that they were running into the basement. “It would be nice to chat but there’s no network in the basement,” she said. Some of the students planned to make another attempt to go to the train station to take the train to Kyiv, but saw the military unit next to their apartment armed and regrouped for new rounds of firing. Perhaps it was when Naveen Shekharappa, a student from Karnataka who was waiting in line at a grocery store in an administrative building in Kharkiv, was hit by Russian bombs. He is the first Indian civilian killed in the Ukraine-Russian war.

On Tuesday, the government confirmed that Shekharappa had died after intense shelling in Kharkiv. “With deep sadness, we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in the shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The ministry is in touch with his family. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet, “We express our deepest condolences to the family.

Shekharappa’s death is a grim reminder that the Indian government has an uphill battle to ensure that more than 2,000 students stranded in cities like Kharkiv and Sumy in the north-eastern parts of Ukraine are safe. These are the cities that are close to the border with Russia. A road trip towards the western border with Poland or Romania is 17 hours long, and life-threatening, as Russian forces march towards Kyiv.

mixed signals

The Indian government has demanded that Russia and Ukraine provide safe passage to Indian citizens in conflict zones. However, students Mint spoke to said there was no clarity about their condition. While there were clear indications that Russia was preparing an attack, a full-fledged war did not begin until 25 February. “We have been questioned about why we didn’t leave two weeks ago, when the advisory came. But we got mixed signals about the situation,” a student said on condition of anonymity.

The student said that an agent had assured him that nothing would happen. Furthermore, the university demanded 100% attendance and leaving the country would result in students missing out on the entire academic year. “We didn’t want to miss our classes and we took it as a message that our stay was essential,” explained the student.

On 24 February itself, universities announced a two-week holiday until 13 March after the Ukrainian government imposed martial law. “Martial law has been declared in Ukraine. Karzinians, stay at home with your families. Keep calm, be smart, take care of yourself and your loved ones! Remember, safety is a priority now!” Read the announcement from Karazin Kharkiv Medical University.

fear in the bunker

In Sumi, fifth year medical student Niranjana Santosh is sending SOS messages to the helpline of the Ministry of External Affairs. Videos of him show a group of scared students in bunkers as the city above is bombed. There are now 700 Indian students waiting to be evacuated from Sumi, 48 km from the Russian border.

On February 27, Niranjana called on Mint to plead for help. “We have food supply only for two days and we do not know when we will run out. It’s really scary.’ Every night, the power is cut and students are advised to stay in their bunkers. On the morning of 28 February, Niranjana sent a voice message to Mint, stating that the situation was “fine”. She and her friends took a taxi to buy groceries.

“Living in a bunker is not easy. It is very dusty. Of course, we know it’s a war and we must adjust to it, but it’s very hard.” The Russian border in a few days’ time, but they have no way of knowing if this information is reliable. For students in the U.S., the option of taking a train to Kyiv has also been ruled out because the rail lines are not operational.

The atmosphere in Sumi’s bunkers turned gloomy as soon as the news of Shekharappa’s death reached the students. That evening, sirens sounded, sending the students to bunkers. Power was cut and street lights were switched off.

While the students hide in their bunkers, their worried parents hang on to every information emanating from the Ministry of External Affairs. Diya Singh, whose daughter is stuck in Ukraine, told Mint that she was shocked to see the sights of bomb blasts in residential areas. She has been urging her daughter to leave the safe city as soon as possible and not wait for the help of the ministry.

On Tuesday, there was no response to calls on Surbhi’s phone. On WhatsApp, his last seen status was at 10 am in Ukraine. His friend Sarboree said they had managed to break out of Kharkiv and were going cross-country by a train to Lviv, barely 70 km west of the border with Poland. It was going to be a 13 hour long train journey. “I don’t have much charge. We’ll send you a message once we get to a safe place,” she said, signing off.

Aman Jun, 21, from Chandigarh has already reached Lviv. Karazin Kharkiv National University student making his way to Budomierz on the border with Poland with 19 classmates. They left Kharkiv on 1 March. “We managed to arrange a bus five hours after we reached Lviv. We had to make our own arrangements for food, bus and train in Ukraine. The Indian government is helping after crossing the border. In Ukraine, the train fare is free and they also provided some food. Right now I am completely exhausted but would like to talk about what I saw only after reaching the border.”

border relief

Waiting for help after reaching the border. On 1 March the Indian Embassy in Poland said in an advisory: “Indians currently in Lviv and Ternopil and other places in western Ukraine may travel to the Budomierz border check-point at the earliest for relatively quicker entry into Poland.”

Alternatively, they have been advised to travel south for transit via Hungary or Romania. “Those who enter Poland from any other border crossing where Indian officials are not stationed may kindly travel directly to Hotel Prezydenki… and from where Operation Ganga flights to India are being operated regularly,” the embassy said.

On March 2, the evacuation of about 1,200 students began in Kharkiv’s hostels. The students were told that the Indian Embassy officials had left Kyiv. An agent named Hardeep Singh and his friends took the students to the railway station for immediate evacuation from Kharkiv. The students were urged to simply board the trains and leave. It will take at least two days for everyone to board the train and many may have to wait near the station.

Looking at it, things will get worse before they get better. On the evening of March 2, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine posted this tweet from its account (in capital letters to underline the urgency): “Urgent advice to all Indian nationals in Kharkiv. They should leave Kharkiv immediately for their safety and security. Proceed as soon as possible to Pesochin, Babaye and Bezlyudovka. Under all circumstances, they must reach these settlements by 1800 hrs (Ukrainian time) today.”