Crimea’s Indian students on edge

Nivedita Ghose had never imagined that studying to battle diseases could place her in the theatre of operations where the tensest geopolitical conflict between Russia and the US since the end of the Cold War is unfolding.
Since Friday, the student at Ukraine’s Crimea State Medical University in Simferopol has put aside her textbooks, keeping track of the frenzied evacuation plans at the varsity as Russian troops occupy the city.
“As a medical student, you’re not scared of blood,” Ghose said today over phone. “But when you go abroad to study, you don’t imagine that you’ll get caught up in a war-like situation. This is a lot scarier than surgery.”
Nearly 700 Indian medical students at the Crimea State Medical University are caught in the heartland of the conflict over Ukraine. Over 5,000 Indian medical students are enrolled at multiple Ukrainian universities in Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa and Lugansk, apart from Simferopol – attracted by even lower fees than offered by Chinese medical schools. More...