Anxious parents urge govts to bring their wards from Ukraine

Worried about the safety of their children studying in Ukraine, parents here urged the State and central governments to take immediate steps to evacuate them from the war-affected country.

“There should not be any delay in bringing back the students, as a single day’s delay might cost lives. The concern is not just for my son but also for all the students in Ukraine,” S Premalatha, whose son Kirubakaran is a third-year student in Kharkiv National Medical University, told DT Next.

Caught in a state of helplessness, parents like her are worried even more than their children and the reports from there are only pushing them to panic.

“I don’t want to call my son and make him scared because we don’t know what the situation is. So I have told him that I would wait for him to call and update,” added Premalatha.

After the crisis first broke out, Premalatha booked a ticket for Kirubakaran to return home. But she could get ticket only for March 5. But with the airspace being closed after the war broke out early on Thursday, the ticket may be useless.

In Vandavasi, Pajeer Nisha, whose son Parvez Musharaf is pursuing medicine in Ukraine, and family are in a state of fear, and have placed all their hopes on the union government to bring him back to India. “The union government should immediately take steps to bring back all the students safely,” she urged.

Like Premalatha, Nisha, too, had booked tickets for Parvez, but got one only for March 8. Now she is left without any option other to wait for the Indian government to evacuate her son from Ukraine.

K Raj Mohan, an environmental activist who lives near Observatory in Kodaikanal, is another parent who is worried about the deterioration of the situation in that country. His daughter Anushiya Mohan is a final year student at National Medical University in Kyiv.

He had managed to speak with her at 11 am, but phone communication was cut off at 5 pm as the situation worsened. His elder daughter, too, was a student of the same university, and had returned to India after completing the course, he said.