Most Indian students from Kharkiv now outside the city: MEA

An Ukrainian soldier in Kharkiv, Ukraine (Source: AFP)

Most Indian students from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv have now evacuated the city, and only a 'few hundred' Indian nationals remain there, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said. Nearly 1000 Indian students are currently in the nearby city of Pisochyn, while another couple of hundred remain in other towns surrounding Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, the MEA said.

The MEA has also categorically denied that Russia helped Indian students escape from the eastern city of Kharkiv by suspending their bombing and military assault by a few hours. Earlier in the day, the MEA said it has received no information of Indian students being held hostage or being used as human shields by the Ukrainian forces.

The government continues to monitor Kharkiv and Sumy, cities where the Russian army has launched a fresh military assault. It has therefore stepped up efforts to secure more flights to Ukraine's neighboring countries, the MEA said.

"During the next 24 hours, 18 flights have been scheduled under Operation Ganga. 3 of these would be Indian Air Force C-17 flights, and other commercial flights by Air India, Indigo, and GoAir. There will be seven flights from Bucharest, 5 from Budapest, 3 from Rzeszow in Poland, and one from Košice in the Slovak Republic. Two flights would be operational from the town of Suceava in Romania," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

He added that Suceava has been chosen so that students don't have to travel to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava, which is far off.

Kharkiv crisis

The MEA said after the warning put out by the Indian Embassy in Ukraine, around 1000 students have managed to leave Kharkiv for the nearby town of Pisochyn. However, a few hundred students remain in the city. The government is banking on the fact that trains are still running and most of the Indians may be able to leave town through this route by tomorrow.

On March 2, the Indian embassy in Ukraine asked students in Kharkiv to immediately evacuate the city, and reach nearby towns by 6 pm (9:30 pm IST). It said students need to leave at the earliest for the towns of Pisochyn, Babai, and Bezlyudivka, located around 12-15 kilometres from Kharkiv.

"There has been a fresh outbreak of violence in Kharkiv today, which makes the job(of evacuating students) harder. We are in touch with both Ukrainian and Russian authorities, to examine the modalities of how we can evacuate from both Kharkiv and Sumy," the MEA said.

The MEA however categorically refused that Russia had held off on bombing Kharkiv to let Indians leave the city. "Extrapolating that (leaving of Indian students) to say that somebody is holding off bombing or that we are coordinating it, is absolutely incorrect," Bagchi said.

The MEA said the three cities where India directed Indian students in Kharkiv to, was suggested by Ukraine. "They had just said that we could take our citizens to these three cities where they would be safe," Bagchi said. He added that if Russia or Ukraine suggests any safe corridor for students in Ukraine going forward, India would engage them and discuss all possible solutions.

Other issues

On 3 March, the Tamil Nadu government announced that it would be sending its own representatives to Ukraine's neighboring countries in order to coordinate with Indian embassies for evacuation of Tamil students in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

This would include three DMK MPs - Tiruchi Siva, Kalanidhi Veerasamy, MM Abdullah, and MLA TRB Rajaa being sent to Hungary, Romania, Poland & Slovakia. The group would also include 4 IAS officers of the Tamil Nadu government.