Over 800 Indian students pursuing degrees in Donbass get admission in Russian colleges

Amid the ongoing war, the Russian educational department said more than 800 Indian students, who were earlier pursuing higher degrees in Donbass, got admission to various Russian universities since the onset of the war, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday. Citing the director of the department for state youth policy and educational activities, Denis Ashirov, said more than 1,500 Indian students have applied for admission and added the government streamlined a hotline intending to provide help to the students.
"We have already enrolled about 829 such students in our universities, made a separate hotline for individual support of such students who now want to enter Russian universities from these territories," Ashirov said during the "round table" of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children.

Notably, he was speaking on the topic: "On social protection and support for families with children and youth in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics and in the liberated territories. "There are still about 1.5 thousand such applications," he added. Ashirov said asserted that Russia has been running a campaign called "university shifts" in order to promote education for those students who were pursuing their degrees in the disputed LPR and DPR regions. Further, he claimed that the Russian Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science have collaborated to provide psychological support to the students who have been traumatised by the Ukrainian attacks on the people of separatist regions.

Govt started operation Ganga to bring back Indian students from Ukraine

It is worth mentioning that the Indian government started evacuating its nationals from Ukraine on February 22 this year under the operation "Ganga". However, the evacuation operation was badly affected as the Ukrainian government shut its airspace because of attempts by Russian aviation authorities to seize control of the airspace. People, especially Indian students reached via trains and buses to at least near the border areas of Poland. The Indian government had also sent two leaders--  Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and Minister of State for Civil Aviation, General VK Singh-- in order to evacuate the students safely from the war-torn nation. Besides, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held multiple rounds of telephonic conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged him to facilitate a green corridor for the evacuation of Indian students.