Fingers crossed, Tamil Nadu students find peace in Ukraine

At least some of the students studying in Ukraine universities DT Next spoke to on Monday said the situation is “not that bad”. “We don’t see any sea change in things here on the street. The officials and common people are calm, and life is going on as earlier,” said a student from TN, now doing MBBS in Ukraine.

Even as the Indian embassy issued an alert and asked the Indians to leave Ukraine, students studying there are finding it hard to convince parents back home that everything is as usual.

“I will be completing my course by May and graduation will happen in June. If I leave now, I don’t know if I will be able to come back and attend exams in May and finish graduation by June,” said Nivethitha Lenin of Kanniyakumari, doing her last semester medicine at National Priogov Memorial Medical University, talking to DT Next over the phone.

Her college is currently conducting online classes because of the COVID spread and not because of war fear.It is estimated that over 18,000 Indian students are in Ukraine and around 4,000 could be from Tamil Nadu.

“There is no panic and most of the students are not in a mood to go back,” said Kirubakaran Sundar Rajan, a third-year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University, Ukraine. Only a section wants to return, thanks to scared parents, he added.

While the Indian Embassy has arranged three chartered flights, individual agents are also tying up with travel agencies though there is a concern over flight charges. “The ticket cost around Rs 22,000, now it’s over Rs 70,000,” noted Nivethitha.

“Many here believe it is more a political game. Our institution so far has not issued any warning,” said Parvesh Mushraf, another medical student from Vandavasi, Tiruvannamalai, studying there since 2017.