The Times of India (TOI) reported Sunday that conditions in Ukraine are increasingly difficult for visiting Indian students, because the Ukrainians resent India’s positive relationship with invading Russia. Indian visitors say the locals are increasingly telling them to “go back” as the war grinds on.
TOI explained that about 18,000 Indian students were evacuated from Ukraine after Russia invaded in February 2022, but 3,400 of them were obliged to return to complete their degrees.
“As per National Medical Council guidelines, students who are studying abroad after December 2021 cannot transfer to any other university. This is why I and many other students had to come back here,” one of the Indian medical students said.
Sending people back to the hottest war zone on the planet to finish their degrees seems like a big ask, but several hundred Indian medical students actually volunteered to return soon after the evacuation operation was complete. Others went back because they feared losing huge amounts of student financial aid if they refused, or because instructions from the Indian government and courts were so confusing they did not know what else to do. Some noted that studying anywhere in Eastern Europe outside of Ukraine would be more than twice as expensive.
A lucky few were transferred to internships in countries surrounding Ukraine. Others settled for online classes from Ukraine but feared their course credits might not count. The families of other students filed suit with Indian courts when they were told the medical careers of students who refused to go back to Ukraine would be destroyed, but they found the response from the courts to be slow and unsatisfying.
“Now, I wonder why they were even rescued? It would have been better if they hadn’t been,” Sonia Lumba, mother of a third-year medical student evacuated from Kharkiv, bitterly remarked to India Today in February 2023.
“I know that many students who were doing their final year have gone back to Ukraine but the situation there is extremely bad. There is power cut, no supplies and most students are living outside at a distance away from the universities,” Lumba said.
“Our parents had to spend more money on visas, their extensions, police verification and other requirements for admission at new universities. The environment here is completely different and the cost of living is higher compared to Ukraine,” an Indian student who relocated to Uzbekistan from Ukraine told the Hindustan Times.
“After attending classes remotely for months, the offline classes for Ukrainians started in September. We were given the choice, but due to the rules by Indian medical authorities, many decided to shift back and I joined the offline classes last month. We are relatively at a safer place, but most of my friends had to suffer and seek transfer,” said another.
Indian students returning to Ukraine encountered the same hardships as Ukrainian residents, and also increasingly face the anger of terrorized and exhausted locals who resent India for maintaining cordial relations with its longtime military patron in Moscow.
“Sometimes shopkeepers don’t sell things to us. We face the same thing in our hostel. The staff behave rudely with us,” an Indian student said.
“Local residents in Ukraine say, ‘You Indians are good friends with Russia.’ They want us to leave their country,” she said.
Another student said the locals are increasingly telling Indians to leave the country, an attitude that has “got worse in the last eight weeks or so.”
The Ukrainian government has generally remained friendly to its Indian guests. When most students fled the country after the invasion, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba sent them a fond farewell message, hoping they could soon return.
“Come back when Ukraine wins. You were always an integral part of our society. We want to celebrate Diwali together in the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine where Diwali became a part of the local tradition,” Kuleba said in December 2022. Diwali, the “Festival of Lights,” is a major Hindu holiday celebrated in the fall.
Kuleba took a sharper tone with the Indian government, criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “morally inappropriate” decision to “buy Russian oil at a cheap price” while Ukrainians are “suffering from Russian aggression” and “dying every day.”
India continues to unapologetically purchase discounted Russian oil and even profits from reselling refined Russian crude to other markets – some of which banned direct purchases of oil from Russia. India went from buying almost no Russian oil in February 2022 to consuming half of Russia’s exports today.
India has expressed a desire to help negotiate an end to the war, capitalizing on its unique position as ally to the West and friend to Russia. The Ukrainian government always welcomes these offers, but the Ukrainian people seem to be growing impatient waiting for India to make its big diplomatic move.