Summary
Indian students, mostly those studying MBBS in Ukraine, landed at the Delhi airport on February 22 following an advisory from the Indian Embassy in Kyiv asking all Indian students to return home
Students were asked to leave for India without waiting for instructions from their respective universities
Several Indian students, mostly those studying medicine in Ukraine, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi after an advisory from the Indian Embassy in Kyiv asked all Indian students to return home until the escalating tension between Russia and Ukraine eased.
“I am feeling happy to be back in my country,” said Anil Rapriya, 22, a fourth-year MBBS student at the Kharkiv National Medical University (KNMU) in Kharkiv city.
“There is nothing to panic there. I have just moved to India as the Indian Embassy asked us to leave the country temporarily given the volatile situation in Ukraine,” he said.
Anil's brother, Manish Rapriya, was waiting anxiously at the T3 arrival lounge on the night of February 22.
“He (Anil) had gone for his MBBS in 2018. I spoke to him on the phone after he landed at the Delhi airport. We are glad that he's back as the situation can change given the tension between Russia and Ukraine," he said.
Manish, 21, is pursuing his MA in political science from IGNOU.
On February 21, the Indian embassy in Kyiv again asked Indian students to temporarily leave the country amid simmering tension between Russia and Ukraine.
A group of medical students arrived in a batch at the Delhi airport on a Turkish Airlines flight from Kyiv to Qatar via Istanbul, and then from there to Delhi in a Qatar Airways flight.
Kirtan Kalathiya, Nirav Patel, Vinit Patel from Bhavnagar, and Krish Raj from Surendra Nagar in Gujarat were among the students who returned to Delhi from Ukraine.
“We all study at the Bukovinian State Medical University (BSMU) at Chernivtsi. We have informed our college authorities that we are leaving. Classes will now be held online. Things are fine in Chernivtsi, as it is quite far from the border area," said Krish Raj.
Apoorva Bhushan from Ranchi and Hardik Dogra from Rajkot study at Bogomolets National Medical University in Kyiv. They arrived in Delhi via an Air India flight AI 1946 at around 11.40 PM on February 22.
"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,” Bhushan said.
He also showed a copy of the advisory circulated in the official WhatsApp group.
"Students are advised in the interest of their safety to leave Ukraine temporarily, rather than wait for official confirmation from universities," it read.
At the Delhi airport, while many Indian students who had just arrived from Ukraine were seen scrolling the Instagram page of Kyiv Post on their mobile phones, a few said they were trying to avoid any kind of news.
Last updated on 23 Feb 2022
