Last batch of Tamil Nadu students from Ukraine return to Chennai

They heave a sigh of relief, but are worried over their future

“We would hear shelling sounds in the middle of the night and run to the bunker for safety. It was a nightmare,” Venkatesan Sivaprasad, a medical student from Sumy, who reached Chennai on Saturday in the last of the evacuation flights, said.

Chief Minister M. K. Stalin received nine students, including Sivaprasad from Tamil Nadu, who reached Delhi from Ukraine and subsequently were brought to Chennai. They came along with the government delegation and IAS officers who were in New Delhi for coordinating the evacuation process.

“As we watched students from the other cities getting evacuated, we were worried whether or not we would make it home alive,” Sivaprasad added.

Prabhakaran Srinath, a sixth-year student from the same university said the situation turned worse with food stock depleting with time and relentless shelling that occurred. “Parents were getting emotional, enduring sleepless nights. Thanks to both the Centre and the State, we are back home now. But we feel clueless about what lies ahead of us,” he added.

Krishnamurthy Pravishkumar, also a sixth year student, said they were just left with one more semester to finish their course. “For now, we have no information from the college. We are pinning our hopes on what the government and college will say. If we are allowed to complete our course somehow, it will bring us tremendous relief as our future rests on this decision. We have spent a huge amount as fee and studied for five years,” he added

With this, 1,921 students from Tamil Nadu have returned from Ukraine. As many as 31 students from the State had chosen to stay back in Ukraine for various reasons, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said.