A large number of students from various parts of India, including from the Northeastern states are still stranded in war-hit Ukraine.
One medical student from Nagaland arrived here on Wednesday at the Indira Gandhi International airport here in a special aircraft.
The girl student hails from Dimapur in Nagaland and is a daughter of a medico.
“I walked for two days to reach Poland along with other Indian friends,” the visibly relieved student told this journalist.
She requested anonymity.
“It’s good to be home,” she said, adding that it’s a challenging time for all, but all Indian students are putting up a brave fight.
The special aircraft arrived here at around 1000 hours on Wednesday and the student was received at the airport by Nagaland Government officials led by Senior Public Relations Officer (PRO) Koulie Mere.
Deputy Resident Commissioner Wennyei Konyak accorded her a warm welcome at the Nagaland House, 29 Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Road.
The Nagaland government is organizing her flight to Dimapur Thursday (March 3).
Meanwhile, from Mizoram two nuns working with Missionaries of Charity Rosela Nuthangu and Ann Feda are still stranded in Ukraine, sources said.
Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, 21, a medical student from Karnataka died due to the shelling in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the Indian government confirmed.
“With profound sorrow, we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family. We convey our deepest condolences to the family,” tweeted Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
Around 20,000 Indians, including a large number of students chiefly in medical institutions, resided in Ukraine before the commencement of the military conflict on February 24.
Nearly 60 percent of them, that is around 12,000, have left Ukraine and over 2,000 have been brought to India,” officials said.
India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh V. Shringla said: “Of the remaining 40 percent of Indians in Ukraine, roughly half remain in the conflict zone in Kharkiv, Sumy area and the other half have either have reached the western borders of Ukraine or are heading towards the western part of Ukraine. “…They are generally out of conflict areas,” the Foreign Secretary said.
More than 9,000 Indian nationals have been brought out of Ukraine while a considerable number are now in safer areas
Of the two nuns, Sister Feda has been working in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
Sister Ann Feda reportedly took her first oath in 1998 to become a nun to join the Missionaries of Charity order and was sent to Ukraine in 2015, according to her elder brother Dengdailova, also a chairman of the St Mary’s Parish church in Aizawl.
A senior Mizoram state government Home ministry official also said there was no information of any other Mizos being in Ukraine.
There are a good number of medical students studying in Ukraine from Tripura and other Northeastern states as well, sources said.
(Nirendra Dev is a senior journalist and author of books ‘The Talking Guns: North East India’ and ‘Godhra – Journey of a Prime Minister’.)
