20,000 Indians! Are we too late?

Russia has invaded Ukraine, as was anticipated. Which way the war will turn is difficult to predict as it is a conflict between two unequal sides, i.e., Russia a superpower and Ukraine which is no match for it, be it the number of active personnel, airpower or firepower. Though Ukraine has been receiving military aid from the United States which had committed arms and security assistance worth $2.7 billion, the prospect of it withstanding Russian might is extremely bleak. However, how the confrontation will conclude will depend on Russia. Will the invasion result in annexation? Or weakening Ukraine is all that is intended? Does it have an exit strategy? As of now Russian President Vladimir Putin has put the objective of the incursion only as ‘demilitarising and denazifying Ukraine’.

Nearly 20,000 Indians, mostly students studying Medicine are stuck in embattled Ukraine. The medical schools in the former Soviet Union republic reportedly offer excellent education at a cost much lower than what obtains in India. During the last 20 years, all CIS nations have been destinations for studies in Medicine from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh where a course in Medical Sciences requires a fortune.

Some of the medical schools have been set up in these nations by Indian edupreneurs themselves. The going had been good so far as the nations were blessed with abundant land, water, power and other resources. But now that Ukraine is under attack, anxiety is rising among those whose wards are enrolled in schools in major centres such as Kyiv, Ivano, and Kharvik. Fear, panic and desperation are mounting in the community looking for exit routes.

Over the last two months, the situation had been worsening due to the large military build-up by the Russians around the country’s border with Ukraine. It is not known if the students were adequately forewarned about the confrontation turning into a full-scale conflagration as it has turned out to be. As could be gleaned, mandarins in the External Affairs Ministry woke up late and just a single flight could evacuate 240 students on Tuesday (Feb. 22). Yet another Air India flight that took off for Kyiv from Delhi to evacuate more Indians on Thursday (Feb. 24) had to turn back because Ukrainian authorities had shut the Boryspil Airport to civilian flights after the nation came under attack from Russian forces. Though the Indian Embassy has said that it was planning alternative arrangements to take out the students, one fears that there are few options left and the evacuation at this stage has to be imparted the contours of a ‘rescue’ operation. The Union Government will have to do some explaining for its belated response which has endangered thousands of lives.