Ukraine crisis: MEA says all Indian students out of besieged Sumy
All Indian students stranded in the war-torn Ukrainian city of Sumy have been moved out and flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them back home, the Minry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Tuesday.
In a tweet, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “Happy to inform that we have been able to move out all Indian students from Sumy. They are currently en route to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine. Flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them home.”
Happy to inform that we have been able to move out all Indian students from Sumy.
They are currently en route to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine.
Flights under #OperationGanga are being prepared to bring them home. pic.twitter.com/s60dyYt9U6
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) March 8, 2022
The development came a day after Prime Miner Narendra Modi held discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on ways to start the stalled evacuation process of the Indian students from Sumy, which is being pummeled the Russian forces.
The evacuation of an estimated 700 Indians, mostly students of Sumy State University, was put on hold at the last minute on Monday after the Indian Embassy reportedly informed the college that it would not be safe for them to begin their journey to the Romania border.
In a video address on Monday, one of the students, Mahtab, said, “Some buses had arrived today to evacuate us but some information was received from Indian government through our embassy to our university officials that it will not be safe to carry out evacuation today. Girls were ready and had boarded the buses but they were asked to return to hostel. But seeing the buses we all believe that we will be evacuated soon. We were extremely happy and now we believe that we will soon be evacuated and reach our homes soon. I want to thank the Indian government and the Indian embassy for all their efforts.”
On Saturday, a huge group of students decided to take the risk of self-evacuation and had conveyed the message though a video posted on social media and news groups. Within 90 minutes, the Minry of External Affairs had asked them to reconsider their decision, adding that all efforts are being made to take them to safety.
(With agency inputs)
