Since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, more than 2.3 million people have left the country, according to the latest UN count.
Among these refugees, many foreign students living in Ukraine have been forced to interrupt their studies.
A particularly difficult decision to make in the face of the uncertainties that now weigh on the continuation of their studies and the obtaining of their diplomas.
From our special correspondent in Hungary,
Reda "will never forget" his flight from Ukraine.
Hood on his head and suitcase in hand, this 22-year-old Moroccan student nevertheless manages to smile a few smiles when he talks about his journey from Dnipro.
Arrived in 2017 in this city located in the south of the country to study medicine, Reda hesitated for a long time before leaving everything.
“The shelling began on February 27 at 3 a.m.
The embassy quickly advised us to leave but the university let us think that there was no danger.
I was torn,” he explains.
A week after the start of the conflict, Reda finally packed his bags and headed west.
For twenty-four hours, the crowded train in which the young man boarded remains plunged into darkness, “so as not to be spotted by planes”.
Arriving in Lviv, Reda seeks to reach the Hungarian border.
"We weren't allowed to get on the trains, there was clearly racism.
I stayed at the dock for seven hours.
Frankly, I almost gave up and went home, but I ended up finding a taxi,” he continues.
On the road, the vehicle is checked by police officers.
A moment remained anchored in his mind: “They told us to return to Dnipro.
Under the pretext that I had been living in Ukraine for five years, they told me that I had to help the Ukrainian troops to fight and they started to bring me a Kalashnikov.
It was terrifying”.
"What will happen now?"
»
Arriving safe and sound in Hungary a few hours later, Reda was reunited with some of his classmates and compatriots in Budapest.
Among them, Badr, 32, the last of the group to have left Dnipro.
“I thought it was going to calm down.
Until the day a missile went over my house.
I was waiting for the shock, I remained frozen.
That's what convinced me to leave,” says the young man on the forecourt of Nyugati station.
Since then, these students have been plunged into “uncertainty”: “We invested a lot of money to finance our studies and we devoted more than four years to it.
What will happen now?
Will we be able to continue our course elsewhere?
Are we going to be able to graduate without starting from scratch?
asks Badr.
For the time being, no clear solution has been provided to these students.
Only their university told them that classes remained suspended until March 12.
Their respective families insist on seeing them return to Morocco: “My mother was obviously freaking out.
She told me to go home, that my life was worth more than my diploma.
It was complicated when we had them on the phone, ”says Badr.
To convince its nationals to return, the kingdom has announced that it has set up special flights from neighboring countries of Ukraine to Casablanca for a fixed price of 750 dirhams (70 euros).
“We just want to go home”
An option that neither Badr nor Reda consider.
Housed in Budapest for a few days thanks to the support of the Moroccan Embassy in Hungary, the two friends prefer to stay in Europe.
“We have to go in the direction of Vienna and then Germany.
We are going to see if we can continue our course there, ”explains the 30-year-old.
Others, on the other hand, have chosen to return permanently.
The trauma of the bombings swept away any alternative.
At 18, Mohad, an Indian student from the state of Kerala, is eager to find his family.
“I was studying medicine in Kharkiv.
It was terrible there, ”he describes modestly, his hands buried in his down jacket.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
After six days of intense fighting, Mohad and his friends managed to leave the city pounded by the Russians: “We walked for a long time, we took a bus and then a train to arrive at Zahony in Hungary”.
For lack of a visa, these students had to wait several hours in the cold before being able to embark in the direction of Budapest.
Exhausted by the trip, Mohad breathes: “We have no idea how long it will take and we have had no contact with our embassy.
We just want to go home now.”
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20 minute video
Racism
foreign students
Russia
Vladimir Poutine
War in Ukraine
World
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