Indian students begin returning home as Ukraine crisis deepens

Astha Sindha, one of the students from Gujarat, who came back from Ukraine said, "I am happy to be back home as my parents were worried. I used to stay and study in the western part of Ukraine, which is deemed to be safe as of now”.

Vadodara/Golaghat: Amid the increasing tensions in Ukraine over a possible invasion by Russia, Indian students have begun returning back to the country after the Indian embassy's advisory to leave the country.

Astha Sindha, one of the students from Gujarat, who came back from Ukraine said, "I am happy to be back home as my parents were worried. I used to stay and study in the western part of Ukraine, which is deemed to be safe as of now”. “The Indian Embassy is very prompt in assisting students, be it via e-mails or calls. They had issued the advisory thrice for us to leave the country temporarily," she said.

Arvind, father of Astha, said, "As parents, we were very concerned for our daughter's safety. The Indian Embassy and the Ministry of External Affairs helped us get the air-fares reduced from about Rs 1 lakh to Rs 50,000 and taking the benefit my daughter came back home." Earlier, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine asked its citizens, particularly students, whose stay was not essential, to leave temporarily amid the ongoing tension between Russia and Ukraine.

Binayak Sharma, a native of Golaghat district in Assam is another such student who returned to his home state on Monday after landing in Delhi the preceding day. As per Binayak, who was studying in a medical college at Chernivtsi, located on western part of Ukraine, there are over 18,000 Indian students in the country. "Apparently there is nothing of war. I live at Chernivtsi and there is no tension prevailing there. The institution authorities have also said that there is nothing to worry about. However, as Indian Embassy generated the advisory, we decided to return. We thought we must abide by the advice of our embassy," said Binayak.

"I hope that the situation will turn normal very soon. In the western part of the country we have not seen any military build-up or anything that sort," he added. The student said that after the advisory by the Indian Embassy, their institution authorities agreed that they should leave the country temporarily.

He said that there are some other students from Assam in Ukraine who are also planning to return soon. Tensions over Ukraine have increased in recent months, with Russia and NATO accusing each other of amassing troops on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The United States and Ukraine accuse Russia of planning for the invasion. But Moscow continues to deny such claims and maintains that it has no intention of attacking any country.