Ukraine crisis leaves UT families worried about safety of their ‘trapped’ children

The family members of Nitika Mohan, 22, a resident of Sector 41, and that of Raveen Kaur, 23, a resident of Sector 38 West, said they were in continuous touch with their daughters, who were pursuing MBBS degrees in Ukraine and expressed hope that the situation was resolved soon and their kids returned home at the earliest.

The families maintained that their daughters, along with three other students, who are from Punjab, had for now been shifted to one of the underground Metro stations situated near the premises of their medical institutes on Thursday afternoon. The families, in the same breath, urged the Indian government to bring their daughters back as soon as possible.

“For the last few days, I have been in constant touch with my daughter over Whatsapp voice and video calls. Today too, I had a brief chat with her. Nitika told me that she, along with other Indian students, had been shifted to a nearby underground Metro station by the Ukrainian authorities. She was not sure when they will be able to return to India. She told me that food and other essential items were being provided to them for now. My daughter is a final year student at Kharkiv International Medical University. She told me that all flights in and out of Ukraine had been stopped. Now, we have no option but to look to the Indian government for help. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should intervene. Earlier, most of the Indian students, who belonged to first and second years, were allowed to return to India a few months ago. But the university authorities restrained the final year students from returning back to their countries due to their practical exams,” Monika Mohan, mother of Nitika, told The Indian Express.
Nitika, she said, had been pursuing her MBBS degree from Ukraine for the last five years. She came to India last year and returned in October. Nitika is Monika — who lost her husband around a year-and-a-half ago —’s only child.

Raveena, 23, of Sector 38 West, also came to her home last year and returned to Ukraine in September,
2021.

Gurmeet Singh, the father of Raveen Kaur, said, “Raveena returned to Ukraine in September last year after spending around one-and-a-half years here due to the Covid-19 pandemic in India. We are very anxious about the safety of our children there. I have been in constant touch with the people of the Indian Embassy in Ukraine. I managed to talk to my daughters a few hours back today also. She told me that they had been shifted to an underground metro station. They have stocked eatables for themselves for now. They at present are not sure about how many days they need to spend in that underground metro station. So far, we have not been approached by any government authority here to ascertain the status of our children.” Raveena Kaur has two other siblings.