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Like the first green shoot after a devastating bushfire, the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag was raised above the burned-out city hall in Izium on Tuesday, just days after the city was recaptured from Russian forces.

It's one of dozens of settlements in Ukraine's north-east Kharkiv region back under Ukrainian control, following lightning advances made by Kyiv's soldiers last weekend.

Abandoned Russian tanks and armoured vehicles point to a chaotic retreat by the occupying force, which Moscow has tried to pass off as a "regroup".

The surprise eastern counteroffensive, planned months in advance, has been hailed as a turning point in the war.

But it comes as a separate assaultdrags on in the south of the country, whileRussia maintains its grip on the sprawling Donbass region.

Whether Ukraine can capitalise on the momentum that saw it claw back thousands of square kilometres relies on several key factors, not least the ongoing support of the West.

It only took a few days for Ukraine to liberate as much territory as Russia had captured over several months, as the occupying force crumbled then withdrew from Izium on Saturday.

Ukraine appears to have borrowed a US military tactic favoured during the Iraq War called a "thunder run".

The daring, high-speed manoeuvre involves a military convoy using heavy weapons and armoured vehicles to plunge into enemy territory and overrun the surprised defending forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has since claimed more than 6,000 square kilometres has been reclaimed in the east and the south since the beginning of September.

The situation was so dire in some towns and villages, residents later told reporters, that Russian troops were seen fleeing on stolen bicycles, attempting to disguise themselves in civilian clothes.

"The Russian army these days is demonstrating its best ability to show its back," Mr Zelenskyy said in a video address.

The eastern city of Izium is a logistical hub and the gateway to the Donbass region, which includes the two Russian-controlled separatist states Donetsk and Lugansk.

Winning the city back, combined with Ukraine's other sweeping gains, is perhaps the biggest upset in the war since Russia's dramatic retreat from the capital Kyiv in late March.

But less than a fortnight ago, the battle for the southern port city of Kherson seemed to be Ukraine's main priority.

So, did something change?Or was a southern fake-out always on the cards?

It all began with a war game.

With the deadline of winter looming, the Ukrainian president needed a consequential win to boost his people's morale and shore up future support from the West.

"Slowly Ukraine was starting to lose face and the Western countries were starting to lose faith in the Ukrainian Armed Forces," said Marina Miron, a research fellow in the Defence Studies Department at King's College in London.

"So, first of all, they saw themselves under pressure to deliver something, to deliver some sort of victory.

"Because, before that, all the victories were essentially in the information domain, but you have to show something on the battlefield."

The Ukrainian military devised a plan to reclaim Kherson and Mariupol, both home to prizedports, hoping to turn the tide six months into the war.

During the summer, US and Ukrainian officials teased out the possibility of a broad offensive in the south targeting the strategic cities, which grant access to the Black Sea.

But the exercise, first reported by CNN, suggested such an ambitious blitz was doomed to fail.

The Ukrainians were adamant, though: they needed to move quickly to stop Moscow further exploiting its control of gas supplies to Europe when the chill sets in.

The continent has already seen a dramatic spike in energy prices, with Russia's deputy prime minister now promising to cut gas exports by a third.

Drawing on US intelligence, the Ukrainians planned two smaller offensives.

They hoped to turn their dominance in the information sphere plus an influx of new weaponry into a decisive win on the ground.

For the past several months, the conflict has ground on in the east and the south with neither side seemingly able to break the stalemate.

But, behind the scenes, Ukraine was quietly amassing billions of dollars' worth of foreign military aid and learning how to use it.

Since the war began on February 24, the United States alone has injected some $US14.5 billion ($21.7 billion) into the war, including providing HIMARS, a type of powerful long-range rocket launcher.

The munitions for the GPS-guided systems can strike targets with precision from more than 60 kilometres away.

By some accounts, thefive-tonneHIMARS trucks, the first of which arrived in June, are having an outsized impact on the battlefield because they allow the Ukrainians to hit targets deep behind enemy lines.

But Dr Miron argued US intelligence probably played a weightier role.

"I think the importance of HIMARS was basically, in a tactical sense, it created some parity in terms of artillery," she said.

"However, I don't think it was the catalyst of change in this war."

It now seems likely the two-pronged offensive capturing the east while eyes were on the south was always the plan.

"The Ukrainians are conducting operations that are forcing the Russians to make decisions on the battlefield about where they're going to apply their resources, and how," a senior US military official said during a recent Pentagon briefing.

"So, what we've seen is the Ukrainians applying the capabilities that they have, [including] those that have been provided by the US and our allies in order to again change the dynamics on the battlefield."

But the strategic masterstroke, and the thousands of soldiers needed to pull it off, came from the Ukrainians alone, the official was careful to note.

Taras Berezovets, a former Ukrainian national security adviser turned special forces press officer, went so far as to label the tactic a "big special disinformation operation".

"[Russia] thought it would be in the south and moved their equipment," he told the Guardian.

"Then, instead of the south, the offensive happened where they least expected, and this caused them to panic and flee."

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has carefully stage-managed the domestic coverage of the invasion of Ukraine.

He still refuses to call it a war, instead euphemistically describing it as a "special military operation", meant to "de-Nazify" Ukraine and liberate its people.

On state television, he has consistently been backed by a cheer squad of presenters parroting Kremlin talking points.

But even some of Mr Putin's most ardent supporters appear shaken by Ukraine's change of fortunes.

The frustration is also starting to seep through online.

"We need to be honest, the Ukrainian command has outplayed us here," said Yuri Podolya, a pro-Kremlin military blogger with 2.2 million followers on Telegram.

Mr Podolya called the recent losses "large" and said the Russian Ministry of Defence had failed to rectify "problems identified by the first months of the war".

On the world stage, Russia is also becoming increasingly isolated, even from its most powerful allies.

In separate meetings with Mr Putin this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to tacitly rebuke the invasion of Ukraine, while China's leader Xi Jinping made no mention of it at all.

"I know that today's era is not an era of war," Mr Modi said.

Mr Putin has held power in Russia since 1999, both as president and prime minister.

His potential electoral opposition has been sidelined or jailed but he is acutely sensitive to public sentiment.

He's also spent roughly two decades building up Russia's modern military, once ranked among the world's best, which now appears to be in tatters.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence sought to frame Russia's hasty retreat as a pre-planned decision to regroup and redeploy.

But it has already lashed out with missile strikes on critical infrastructure, plunging parts of the country into darkness and flooding Mr Zelenskyy's hometown.

"Strength is the only source of Putin's legitimacy," Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Mr Putin, told The New York Times.

"And in a situation in which it turns out that he has no strength, his legitimacy will start dropping toward zero."

The Ukrainians are hoping the West will help them solidify their gains in what remains contested territory, while trying to rebuild cities devastated by months of Russian occupation.

After surveying the destruction left behind in Izium, including mass graves, Mr Zelenskyy has also called on foreign governments to investigate alleged human rights abuses.

"Earlier, when we looked up, we always looked for the blue sky," he wrote in a statement.

"Today, when we look up, we are looking for only one thing the flag of Ukraine."

His foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, also condemned the recent missile strikes on water systems as "a war crime" and an "act of terror".

It remains unclear how far Russia will be willing to go to halt Ukraine's momentum.

But some fear cyber, chemical and even nuclear attacks may be on the cards.

So far, the European Union's top official, Ursula von der Leyen, has been a sympathetic ear.

"It's absolutely vital and necessary to support Ukraine with the military equipment they need to defend themselves," she said.

But the US has rebuffed a request to provide more HIMARS munitions.

"I'm not sure that Ukraine will get the weapons it's requesting because the West [is] not interested in having Ukraine so powerful that it can potentially launch attacks deep inside Russia, because then everything would spin out of control," Dr Miron said.

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Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is going so badly even loyal bloggers are turning on him - ABC News

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President Putins unjustified war against Ukraine puts millions around the globe at risk of increasing food insecurity. The Kremlins full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of the worlds largest exporters of food, has led to the damage or outright destruction of many of Ukraines arterial roads, railways, ports, and food storage facilities that are essential to getting its agricultural goods to international markets. These actions guarantee that the pain of this war will also be felt by the worlds most vulnerable populations.

Today the Conflict Observatory, which is supported by the U.S. Department of State, released an independent, first-of-its-kind, and detailed assessment of the devastating impact of Russias war on food storage sites in Ukraine. An estimated 15.7% of Ukraines crop storage facilities have been affected during the conflict either due to seizure by Russias and Russia-aligned forces, or because facilities have been destroyed, damaged, or degraded to the point of compromising the stocks contained inside. The report notes that intentional destruction of such facilities may constitute a war crime and a violation of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949; the United States calls for further investigation through appropriate mechanisms. This report and other analyses are available online at the Conflict Observatory website.

Russia has exacerbated a global food security crisis, contributed to significant spikes in the cost of wheat, and forced a scramble to keep hungry and vulnerable populations fed. This summer, the United Nations and Turkey mediated an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to allow safe grain exports from Ukraines Black Sea ports. Since August 1, that agreement has reduced global food prices and brought more than 2.7 million metric tons of grain to global markets. But if agricultural infrastructure within Ukraine continues to be damaged in the war, this progress on global food security will be endangered.

In 2022, Ukraine has become the scene of the worst mass-scale violence that Europe has seen in eight decades. Local hardships are compounded by its farmers strained ability to operate during wartime, replenish diminished food supplies, and prepare for planting seasons ahead. The ramifications of Russias aggression reverberate far outside Europe, and now affect the health and wellbeing of tens of millions of people worldwide. Since February, the United States has provided over $5.7 billion in humanitarian assistance to scale up emergency food security operations in food-insecure countries.

The United States will continue to firmly stand with Ukraine as it defends its freedom, for the sake of its own people and of people across the globe who rely on the harvests from Ukraines farmlands. Our support for Ukraine remains unwavering.

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Documenting Russia's Destructive Impact on Food Storage in Ukraine - United States Department of State - Department of State

MYKOLAIV, Ukraine An inferno had already fully engulfed a two-story dermatology clinic on Joyful Street in central Mykolaiv by the time Stanislav Ustich and his team of firefighters arrived, just minutes after a Russian rocket slammed into the courtyard in front of the building, carving out a crater big enough to swallow a car.

As the firefighters unfurled hoses, Mr. Ustich, or Stas as he is known, tore down a portion of the iron fence to give his comrades a point of entry. A group of men, some wearing only underwear after being jarred awake by the blast, stood across the street watching as huge tongues of flame lapped up the buildings facade.

So it goes just about every night for the firefighters of Mykolaiv, a southern Ukrainian city about 10 miles from the front lines that has been a target of near-incessant Russian shelling since the war began in February.

Over six, 24-hour shifts, a reporter and photographer with the New York Times followed Stas and his team of firefighters, as they raced to control the damage from a torrent of rocket and artillery attacks, risking their lives to save as much of their beleaguered city as possible.

You understand that above you jets and rockets are flying and that at any moment one could hit you, Stas said. But you just hear a voice and you start to rummage, dig, pull, because you know that person is alive and you have to get him out, you have to.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Though Ukrainian forces recently scored a stunning victory over Russia in the northeast, in the south the war remains a slog. And Mykolaiv, among other cities, is in the crosshairs. This week, heavy shelling in the city damaged apartment buildings and a school, and killed two people, according to the regional military governor, Vitaly Kim.

At the dermatology clinic, the blast radius was huge. Across the street, the wave from the explosion had warped the heavy steel doors of a municipal court building, and firefighters had to use a special saw and a crowbar to free a security guard trapped inside. At the end of the block, Lyubov Slyusarenko and Andrei Kosenko, the caretakers of a childrens performing arts school, had just emerged from the basement when the explosion occurred, sending glass and shrapnel flying in all directions. The schools windows were shattered, and chunks of metal and other refuse littered a courtyard.

I cant endure this anymore, Ms. Slyusarenko said. Im covered in glass. If we were just a little farther over there wed no longer be here.

As often happens, the rocket hit just after the all clear had been given following an earlier air-raid alarm. Ms. Slyusarenko had come out to make herself a late-night cup of tea.

Idiots. Animals. Bastards, she said, stifling a sob.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

At the fire station, the tension mounts as darkness falls. Most rocket attacks happen in the early morning hours, often between 2 and 6, but the first air attack alarms often sound much earlier, sending firefighters scrambling into a dank and fetid bunker beneath the firehouse.

As soon as it gets dark my heart starts to beat faster, Stas said.

They pass the long hours of the night in nervous anticipation. Sometimes they play dominos as a distraction or listen to President Volodymyr Zelenkys nightly address on their phones. Stas watches reruns of Super Bowl games.

Before the war, he played American football because, he said, he thinks soccer is for wimps. He only ever wanted to be a soldier or a firefighter because saving lives, he said, is the work of real men. But he is not afraid to show his emotions. He cries, sometimes several times a day, tormented by the horrors he has witnessed over the last six months.

You come home, and you try to fall asleep, he says, and you dream about it all in a cold sweat and wake up in tears.

Then it begins. A steady thwomp, thwomp, thwomp of rocket strikes that seem to pierce the heart and loosen the contents of the stomach. With each strike every muscle of Stass 6-foot-3, 240-pound body seems to tense. The firefighters count the rocket strikes and wait, looking up as if to gauge for the hundredth time the structural integrity of the concrete ceiling.

When the call comes, though, all of the painful anxiety melts away. They race up the stairs, out of their shelter and into the treacherous open air of the night. The vast cloud of the Milky Way offers nearly the only illumination until the blue lights of the fire engine switch on.

These are the same kind of heroes as the soldiers, Mr. Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv regions military administration, said of the citys firefighters. They show up in five minutes under fire and start to work.

Firefighters playing dominos. Second from right is Stanislav Ustich Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

How Russia selects its targets is a subject of debate and bewilderment in Mykolaiv. Rarely, it seems, do the Kremlins forces hit military targets, but they have destroyed plenty of schools, universities, hospitals and homes.

Since the start of the war on Feb. 24, more than 500 apartment buildings and roughly 700 homes have been damaged in rocket attacks on the city, many of them beyond repair, according to the city government. More than 130 civilians have been killed and hundreds more have been wounded.

Around the corner from the dermatology clinic, two rockets had slammed into a cluster of private homes, and firefighters had to pull dazed residents from the rubble. One, a young man named Andrei, covered in dust, pointed to a spot in the rubble he said used to be his bedroom. Another, Svetlana Kharlamova, pushed herself out of a window to escape when her roof caught fire. Firefighters later fetched some clothes and her cane from inside her damaged home.

The main thing is that were alive, she said.

One evening, a rocket hit so close to the fire station that most of the windows were blown out and the roof of the gym caved in. The firefighters were unharmed.

A strike on a Mykolaiv apartment building in late June sheared off most of the buildings top three floors, killing nine people, including two young women who had just graduated from college and a Red Cross volunteer. It was the third time a building on the block had been hit.

Its difficult when you talk to someone in the evening, and in the morning, you learn that theyre gone, said Oksana Mushchinskaya, who continues to live on the first floor of the building with her two Yorkshire terriers.

I think this is probably to scare us, so that we give up Mykolaiv, Ms. Mushchinskaya said. But they wont succeed. Mykolaiv is Ukraine and it will remain Ukraine. Not one Russian will be allowed to enter here. Not one.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Even as the bombs fall, a semblance of normal life is evident on the streets of Mykolaiv. Some restaurants and cafes are open and department stores continue to do some business. On the ground floor of the Hotel Mykolaiv, Yekaterina Kondrachuk, 21, was boxing up products at the clothing boutique where she works. Days earlier, a rocket had slammed into the front of the hotel, taking out a chunk of the top few floors. But Ms. Kondrachuk was not leaving. She was merely moving the store to another location across the street.

Its frightening, of course, she said. But our family and our home are here.

Perhaps the biggest hardship aside from the bombs is water. With Mykolaiv cut off from its main source of freshwater, it relies on makeshift wells that only provide salt water out of the tap. For drinking water, residents line up each day to fill up bottles at large tanker trucks parked around the city.

Were staying strong, said Tatyana Lukyanova, 63, as she waited in line to fill plastic jugs with water. Its a little scary, but were carrying on.

Just coming outside, though, is a gamble. Not far from where Ms. Lukyanova stood, a rocket struck near a bus stop at a busy intersection in the middle of the day, killing at least seven people and injuring nearly 20, according to the city government.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Ten miles from central Mykolaiv, the battle is raging in earnest, and in the silence of the night you can hear the booms of artillery exchanged between Ukrainian troops and their Russian adversaries.

While life continues to hobble along in Mykolaiv, the villages along the front lines are mostly abandoned, save for a handful of families who rarely leave their bunkers.

At the start of the war, Russian troops reached the Mykolaiv city limits, but were pushed back by fierce Ukrainian resistance. Now, in trenches cut through village courtyards and wheat fields, Ukrainian soldiers hold the line, making sure that the nearby Russian troops move no farther west.

Its now a fight for position, said Senior Lt. Sergei Savchenko, whose unit with Ukraines 28th Brigade is dug in along the border with the Kherson region, the Russian-controlled territory west of Mykolaiv. Were not letting them move, though they are trying to.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Before dawn on the morning of July 28, two Russian rockets slammed into Mykolaiv Gymnasium No. 49, a primary school in a hard-hit neighborhood in the citys southern end. One rocket smashed directly through the schools front door leaving only splintered beams. Framed class pictures of children with toothy grins littered the floor, though some still clung to cracked plaster walls.

Since the start of the war, Russian forces have attacked around 50 educational institutions in Mykolaiv, according to the mayors office. Though Ukrainian troops have at times deployed in schools, mainly as a place to rest from the fighting, there was no evidence of any military presence in any of the attack sites visited by New York Times reporters. Some have speculated that the attacks could be directed at what the educational institutions represent: Ukrainian thought, culture and language.

hey are just targeting universities, said Leonid Klimenko, standing in the wreckage of the Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University in central Mykolaiv, where he is rector. There have never been any soldiers here.

On Aug. 17, two rockets punched a hole through the universitys heavy brick facade, gutting offices and classrooms. The rockets failed, however, to take out the Ukrainian flag waving in front.

Its nothing, Dr. Klimenko said. Well rebuild.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

The red fire truck careened through wheat fields on the outskirts of Mykolaiv toward a column of smoke so thick and black that at times it obscured the blazing summer sun. On the scene, firefighters tried to beat back the flames, but the heat was too intense.

After the fire had burned itself out, the culprit was discovered: remnants of a Russian rocket, including the nose cone and engine, lay on the black scorched earth, as a flock of storks scoured the ground for newly uncovered insects.

The fields burn every day, said Sergei Serdega, a deputy fire chief.

Whether Russian forces are intentionally shelling fields to destroy Ukraines crops is unclear, but hundreds of acres have burned since the growing season began in spring. Though the attacks rarely cause casualties, it is particularly dangerous work for firefighters who have to be mindful of unexploded ordnance and mines.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

For Stas, the worst day of the war came in March, when Russian forces staged a rocket attack on the headquarters of the 36th Ukrainian Naval Infantry Brigade, flattening the barracks where hundreds of soldiers were sleeping.

Officially, some 50 marine infantry troops were killed, but Stas and others said that the real toll was probably in the hundreds.

There were just pieces of meat, Stas said. Theres a head. Theres a body. Below that there should be legs, but the legs are wrapped around the head.

There was no evidence of any military presence at the dermatology clinic hit on Aug. 1. A man dressed only in underwear and a T-shirt with a picture of a Turkish-made Bayraktar drone on it, told the firefighters that the clinic was used as a site for handing out humanitarian aid like food rations and medicines. He and his wife appeared to be the only people on the premises when the rocket hit, though they escaped with only minor injuries.

It took more than four hours to put out the fire and it was light outside by the time the flames were extinguished. A woman wearing a white lab coat arrived at about 6 a.m. to start her workday. Standing in front of the smoldering ruins, she let out a whistle and cursed.

Stas and his fellow firefighters were panting, dripping with sweat.

I wouldnt mind just a few days of quiet, Stas said. Really, just two days to sleep soundly without waking up to these explosions.

He is still waiting.

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

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Fire and Fear in South Ukraine - The New York Times

Seven months after the Russia-Ukraine war forced nearly 20,000 Indian students, most of them studying medicine in Ukraine, to return home to India, many are now making the journey back to their colleges in the war-torn European country, even as the war continues. More Indian students are expected to head back to Ukraine in coming weeks after the government of India told the Supreme Court that they cannot be accommodated in Indian colleges and universities. A look at how and why Indian students are choosing to head back to the war-ravaged country.

At the height of the war, the students had mostly left Ukraine after crossing the borders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia or Romania, but now, as they return, they have been doing so via Moldova, a small country to the southwest of Ukraine. With the airspace over Ukraine still closed, the students have been taking a connecting flight from Delhi, with an eight-hour layover at Istanbul (Turkey), which takes them to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. From there, they further take a bus to get across the border, and thereafter another bus to the city where they study. Most of the students have been returning to western Ukraine cities such as Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia which, they say, are comparatively safer and away from war zones. However, some students have also started returning to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

Why the Moldova route?

Students say that returning to Ukraine via Moldova is the easiest and most hassle-free option available currently because the country has been issuing e-visas. One just has to apply online and we get the visa within 3-7 days. Other neighbouring countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania have cumbersome visa processes. Visa applications of many students have been rejected by these countries. These countries offer Schengen visa which takes too much time and is mostly rejected. Moldova, on the other hand, is offering e-visa, both in transit and tourist categories, which is approved within days and is also cheaper, said a student who has returned via Moldova.

Students are now spending close to Rs 1 lakh for returning to Ukraine and this includes air ticket cost, visa and other miscellaneous expenses. However, some agents are charging students as much as Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 for arranging visas for Moldova. Kritee Suman, a student who returned via Moldova, says, The air ticket can cost at least 60k and the visa fee for Moldova is 60 Euros (Rs 4,700 approximately). Even if we add other expenses, a visa cannot cost more than Rs 10k so students should apply on their own instead of paying agents who are fleecing students. I spent around Rs 1 lakh on my return trip to Ukraine.

Are students facing inconveniences on their return trips?

Unlike the times when they had to reach borders on foot, braving extreme weather and other difficulties while leaving Ukraine when the war had started, students say returning to Ukraine is hassle-free so far. After my 16-hour flight to Chisinau, including an eight-hour layover at Istanbul, I got a direct bus to cross the border and reach Ukraine. A 10-hour bus ride then took me to Ivano where I study. There was no hassle, said Suman. My visa for Moldova came just in 3 days.

In March, after the war broke out, students who were in panic, had reached the borders of Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia on foot after walking for 1-2 days, and were evacuated through special flights operated by the Government of India under Operation Ganga. Some were also evacuated via Moldova.

Since they returned to India in March, the fate of these students had been uncertain with India maintaining that there is no provision to accommodate them in medical colleges and universities in the country. With the Union Ministry of Health submitting in the Supreme Court on September 15 that these students cannot be accommodated in Indian medical colleges and universities, adding that any such transfers would seriously hamper standards of medical education in India, students say theres hardly any option left but to return to Ukraine and complete their studies.

The students who are returning are mostly in the third to sixth year of their courses in Ukrainian medical universities. They say they were left with little choice but to head back given practical difficulties involved in taking a transfer to universities in other countries, and the need for hands-on training for final-year medical students.

In a notice issued last week, the National Medical Commission (NMC) allowed Indian students to opt for the academic mobility programme offered by Ukraine that allows them to relocate to universities in other countries and complete their studies. Students, however, say that such a transfer involved practical hurdles.

The course fee in other European countries is way higher than in Ukraine. Not everyone can afford it. The mobility programme was not really practical because universities in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, where the fee is relatively affordable, are not as good as those in Ukraine. Elsewhere in Europe, it is just too costly to start from scratch. Some Russian universities are now offering discounts for Indian students, said a returnee.

Students say that even the course duration, subjects and evaluation system in Ukraine was different from other countries so theres many a slip between cup and lip when it comes to the mobility programme. For instance, in Ukraine, the MBBS is called MD and it is a six-year course, unlike in India, where it is for five years. NMC has already clarified that our degrees wont be valid if we study via online classes. So theres no point wasting more time, said another student.

Read more here:
Why and how Indian students are returning to Ukraine despite ongoing war - The Indian Express

1. The Critical Moment Behind Ukraine's Rapid Advance  The New York Times
2. Putin's regime under pressure after defeats; Ukraine slams Germany over weapons response  CNBC
3. Ukraine's battlefield wins encourage the West but could make the war more dangerous  CNN
4. Ukraine vows to drive out Russian forces as U.S. readies more military aid  Reuters
5. Russia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 202 of the invasion  The Guardian
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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The Critical Moment Behind Ukraine's Rapid Advance - The New York Times