“All of our nationals have left Kyiv… All our inquiries reveal that each and every one of our nationals has come out of Kyiv,” said the Foreign Secretary.
4 Indian Ministers have reached Ukraine borders states to ensure evacuation of all nationals stuck in Ukraine. India will operate 26 flights over the next three days to fly back Indian citizens who have moved from Ukraine to neighbouring countries, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting on the country’s evacuation efforts.
Besides Romania’s Bucharest and Hungary’s Budapest, airports in Poland and Slovak Republic will also be used, he added. The Indian embassy in Kyiv has been shut and the staff shifted in view of possible escalation in Russian military action. Mr Shringla also said no Indian citizen is left in the city.
There were an estimated 20,000 Indian students in Ukraine when the government issued its first advisory. “From that number, approximately 12,000 have since left Ukraine, which is 60 per cent of the total.
Jyotiraditya Scindia on reaching Molodova said that the Molodova borders have opened and proper shelter and food arrangements are being made for all incoming Indian students.
Earlier, Reacting to the loss of life of an Indian student in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, as a result of shelling, the government of India said that the matter was of grave concern. It also said that the safety and security of Indian nationals in that city is of utmost priority to government.
Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, a medical student from Karnataka, was standing in the queue for food in Ukraine’s Kharkiv this morning when he lost his life in Russian shelling.
Naveen was a final year medical student at the Kharkiv National Medical University. He was from Karnataka’s Haveri and lived near a prominent government building that was blown up by Russian soldiers.
The MEA further stated, ‘We had already taken up the matter with the Russian and Ukrainian Embassies of the pressing requirement of safe passage for Indian nationals, including students, from Kharkiv and other cities in conflict zones’.
‘This demand has been repeatedly made of Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of this conflict on February 24. It has been conveyed to both their Ambassadors in New Delhi as well as taken up in their capitals.’
‘From Indian side, preparations for evacuation have been in place for sometime now. An Indian team has been positioned in Russian city of Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border. However, the conflict situation in and around Kharkiv and nearby cities has been an obstacle.’
‘Therefore, it is imperative that Russia & Ukraine respond to our need for safe passage urgently. In places where the conflict has not endangered movement, we’ve been able to evacuate our citizens.’
‘Over 9000 Indian nationals brought out of Ukraine while a considerable number are now in safer areas We will continue to make utmost efforts to ensure the return our citizens stranded in Ukraine.’
