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Buses sent to warzones Kharkiv, Sumy to evacuate Indians, says Centre
The Ministry of External Affairs said a total of 900-1,000 Indian nationals are stranded in Pisochin and 700 of them are stuck in Sumy in war-hit Ukraine
The Centre on Friday said that efforts are underway to evacuate Indian nationals from war-hit Kharkiv and Sumy in eastern part of Ukraine. “We are paying the highest attention on eastern Ukraine, especially Kharkiv and Pisochin. We have managed to get some buses there and five of them are operational,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
“More buses will be operational later this evening. A total of 900-1,000 Indian nationals are stranded in Pisochin and 700 of them are stuck in Sumy,” the spokesperson said.
“We had requested #Ukraine authorities for special trains but haven't heard anything yet,” Bagchi said.
The Indian Air Force has already put IL-76 planes on standby to evacuate Indian nationals stranded in Kharkiv and Sumy from Moscow. According to South Block officials, two IL-76 aircraft are on standby to fly out to Moscow as soon as the Indian nationals are taken to the Russian capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had spoken to Russian president Vladimir Putin and then with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He discussed the evacuation of Indian nationals from the warzones in Ukraine. External affairs minister S Jaishankar also spoke to his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.
The Ministry of Defence on Thursday had issued an advisory to the Indian nationals stuck in Kharkiv, listing the do's and don'ts for them amid the war situation.
According to the government, at least 10,800 Indians have been brought back home neighbouring countries bordering Ukraine. The evacuations have taken place in 14 civilian aircraft and three IAF C-17 aircraft.
