Will return to Ukraine as soon as issues calm down, say college students after touchdown in India

As Indian college students from war-hit Ukraine have began to return, a batch of 5, hailing from Punjab and Haryana, landed in Delhi and vowed to return to Ukraine as quickly as normalcy was restored.

Gurkeerat Singh, a fourth-year scholar of Uzhhorod National University in Ukraine, was evacuated together with a whole lot of others by the Indian embassy on Saturday early morning.

“We were taken to Hungary from where we have been sent home by the Indian government. We are on our way to Punjab. We are thankful to the government for evacuating us well in time,” Gurkeerat, who hails from Udyakaran village of Muktsar, advised The Indian Express.

“We all are praying that war would end soon and everything gets back to normalcy. At the end of the day, the common man suffers in a war directly or indirectly. We are waiting to hear when we can go back to our classes again. It is 110 per cent sure that we will go back to Ukraine to resume our offline classes,” stated Gurkeerat.

“As we were close to the Hungary border and things were normal in this part of the country, no bombing happened, not even a bullet was fired but yes, as war broke out in the country, we were living in emergency conditions. I was staying in a shared flat with other Punjab residents near the university,” he added.

Jashanpreet Singh of Moga, who’s a second-year scholar in the identical faculty, stated: “We could not make out as to whether the conditions would turn worse or not as our classes were going on. Now we have been given an option of online classes and we will be attending that once we reach home and settle down.”

Gurkeerat stated: “There were 1,800 students in the university who were stuck after the war broke out and 1,500 out of them were from India. As we were rescued in time, we did not have to go through many ordeals. We were in contact with our family regularly.”

“A lot of people are asking us why we had gone to study in Ukraine. On behalf of all students, I want to tell them that education is affordable in Ukraine compared to India and we find the level of studies far better than what it is in Indian universities. Also, we get exposure to a completely different culture. The people there are so friendly and kind that we feel like home while staying in rented accommodations,” stated Gurkeerat.

Ishmeet Turqa, a second-year scholar of the identical college stated: “I live in Zirakpur (in Mohali) and came in this flight via the Hungarian border. Though things were under control on our side as it is away from Russia, we have come back. We now just pray that a ceasefire happens soon and things settle down. We are hoping that life will be back on track in Ukraine once again. We want to complete our studies. The war has caused lots of uncertainties on the future of students.”

Muskan Walia, a first-year scholar from Bathinda additionally got here within the flight which landed in Delhi. She too hopes to return to her lessons quickly.

Vivek Kumar from Haryana, a second-year scholar, was additionally a part of the group that landed in Delhi.