With the Indian embassy in Kyiv issuing an advisory on Tuesday for Indians to leave Ukraine temporarily, the community, especially the students, is worried about escalating situations.
On Tuesday, the Indian embassy in Kyiv issued an advisory urging the Indian nationals, particularly students whose stay is not essential, to leave temporarily. Ukraine has around 20,000 Indian students, and of these, most of them are doing medicine.
Many have expressed their concerns; students are perplexed with the rising airfares. Some have even held that the advisory was a little late.
Many took to the Facebook Page of India in Ukraine (Embassy of India, Ukraine), where the advisory was uploaded on Tuesday, to express their concerns.
“Too late, how can children leave now, flights are too expensive and even if we take tickets in high rates there is no guarantee it may cancel any time…” wrote Reji T Zakariah.
“I packed my documents and essentials after a local channel announced last week that a siren will be sounded and we will have to evacuate within minutes,” said Niharika Jaiswal, a 24-year-old student from Gorakhpur who studies at the Odessa National Medical University.
Niharika further stated that her university continued in-person classes till last week. Though there was news of airspace being blocked, gas and power cuts and flights being cancelled, the students were waiting for directions from the Indian embassy.
The universities, however, have not made sure whether the classes are shifting to online mode.
There is only one direct flight a week, so there is a rush to book the tickets, including one-stop flights. The regular one-way fare, which was used to be around Rs 26,000, has now reportedly risen to Rs 60000.
Students believe that the Indian mission was slow to react, as a flight ticket to Delhi will cost them a minimum of Rs 60,000 now.
“Due to news of the conflict, flight ticket prices have gone out of reach. Agents are exploiting the situation to make money,” said Mahima Singh, an MBBS student at Bogomolets National Medical University in Kyiv.
“Some students have already booked their tickets, but the flights are being cancelled,” a student, Harsh Goyal, told NDTV.
However, students said that the embassy was in contact with them and promised an evacuation if necessary.
But, many Indian students in Ukraine and their parents urged the government to charter special flights as early as possible.
Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy has issued contact numbers +380997300483 and +380997300428 for Indian nationals stuck in any emergency in Ukraine. An email ID – cons1.kyiv@mea.gov.in – has also been issued for emergency response.
