Ukraine crisis: Govt steps up evacuation efforts, Foreign Secretary meets envoys

New Delhi, February 27

As many as 688 Indian nationals returned here on Sunday from strife-torn Ukraine on board three Air India flights from Romanian capital Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest. So far, four flights have brought back Indians and more are operating under Operation Ganga. With about 13,000 Indians still stuck in Ukraine, the Foreign Office on Sunday separately called in the envoys of Russia and Ukraine and shared locations where Indians are concentrated to ensure their safety even as four cities — Kharkiv, Sumy. Odessa and Kyiv — have turned into conflict zones.

The MEA is also rushing a team from its embassy in Moscow to the Ukrainian border to evacuate students stuck in the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy through Russia since the land borders of Hungary and Romania are a long way off.

At a special media briefing on Sunday, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said, “Both Ambassadors took note of our concerns and said they were very cognisant of the safety of Indians. We also contacted the President of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which is commencing its operations in Ukraine and asked him to ensure that Indians are looked after.”

Underlining that the government will bear the cost of airlifting the citizens, Shringla advised Indians to avoid the border crossing points with Poland since these “are overcrowded with Ukrainians as well as foreigners fleeing the country”.

Early this morning, Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia welcomed the evacuees at the IGI Airport by handing out roses to them.

India has brought back 907 stranded citizens since Saturday when the first evacuation flight from Bucharest with 219 on board landed in Mumbai.

Earlier in the day, some Indian students sent visuals of alleged Ukrainian army personnel assaulting them at the Polish border and several others complained of not being allowed to go through. More effective are the border crossings with Hungry, Romania and Slovakia with MEA teams deployed at multiple points to guide the Indians across the border. —