One year after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, about 26,500 African students studying in Ukraine are still stuck looking for ways to complete their academics in European countries. 

According to the New York Times report, about 26,500 African students in Ukraine before the war started were left to fend for themselves.

Some are stuck in their countries, uncertain about the future. 

Those who fled the country are still stuck between Ukraine and its borders with limited opportunities to continue their education. 

Many European countries offered limited support to African students, with different immigration laws and possible deportation of these students. 

A medical student in Ukraine, Mohamed Elfatih Ahmed, told the newspaper that he was 18 months away from becoming a doctor before the Russian invasion. 

The 23-year-old Sudanese said he was sponsored through scholarship and family savings to attend university in Ukraine and cannot “go back home empty-handed.”

Mr Ahmed said when the war broke, he decided to flee to Poland and Germany, but many like himself are still stuck between European borders seeking long-term residents or refugees.

He said that after his residency permit expired, Germany refused to grant him asylum in November, stating that officials German authorities consider Sudan a safe country.

The Sudanese received a deportation order to leave Germany after six months of settling in the country with his dream of studying to become a doctor in a European country. 

“It just makes you want to stop in the street and scream. They told us: ‘We need doctors in Europe’. We are here, but they don’t want us,” Mr Ahmed said. 

Another Ukraine student, Osinachi Ekenulo, a Nigerian, who has been living in Amsterdam, in western Ukraine, with host families, said all efforts to gain admission to universities in Europe were unsuccessful. 

The 25-year-old said returning to Nigeria is “not an option,” claiming the economic situation, security concerns, and university strikes are major concerns to her. 

She noted that Nigerian universities would not recognise the academic years spent in Ukraine. 

“I would have to start from scratch. If I stop now, I’ll have nothing to show for all these years,” Ms Ekenulo said. 

Ms Ekenulo added that she has until March 11 to leave the country after she succeeded in gaining admission to a medical school in Georgia. She hopes to get an extension of her visa application which the government rejected. 

Ahmed Habboubi, a 23-year-old medical student studying in Odesa, said he is awaiting a response from a medical school in Portugal about whether he will continue with his academics.

Mr Habboubi, who fled Ukraine to France, said he was denied a residency permit, then he moved to Portugal, where he is currently learning Portuguese.

Universities in Ukraine are now opening to offer remote learning, but medical science students are required to attend in person.

In March, Ukraine universities sent letters to final-year students with the directive of the government that they would be expelled from the institutions if they refused to return to classes, while students were also urged to sign a disclaimer that they were aware of the risk of returning to a war zone and were responsible for their “own safety and life.”

However, after public outcry, Ukraine’s education ministry denied giving a directive that international students should return to the war zone.