Focus On Border Areas Of Ukraine For Evacuation, Three More Flights Scheduled: Govt
Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
New Delhi, Feb 28 : The government on Monday urged students stranded in war-hit Ukraine not to panic, but move to the western border with curfew lifted in Kyiv, even as it marshalled more flights and sent four central ministers to oversee the evacuation operations directly. Six flights have arrived so far, bringing back 1,396 Indians — four left from Bucharest and two from Budapest. “Over the next 24 hours, there are more flights scheduled, two from Bucharest, to Delhi and Mumbai, and one from Budapest to Delhi,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a special news briefing. He said over 8,000 Indians have left Ukraine so far since the first of the advisories was issued on February 15.
In a related development, Ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri and VK Singh are to travel to Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland to oversee the evacuation of Indians. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the decision on Monday to send the four ministers to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation mission. Union Civil Aviation Minister Scindia will go to Romania and Moldova, Law and Justice Minister Rijiju to Slovakia, Housing and Development Minister Puri to Hungary and Road Transport and Highways Minister of State VK Singh to Poland. PM Modi has said that ensuring the safety of Indian students stranded in Ukraine and their evacuation was the government’s top priority. The MEA spokesperson said that currently the focus is on land borders for the evacuation.
He said there has been some improvement regarding movement on the Polish border, and added that the Embassy in Warsaw has arranged a fleet of 10 buses to take students stuck at the Shehyni border and take them onward to north of Poland for being evacuated. At the Polish border, arrangements for food, and accommodation have been made, he said, adding that a number of Indians are already there awaiting flights to India. Besides the crowded border conditions in Poland, there has also been chaos on the Romania border, but the situation has improved there, he added. The MEA has opened a new route for evacuation through Moldova, through southern Ukraine.
The Indians who cross over from Odessa and other places into Moldova, would be taken on to Romania and Bucharest for evacuation. He said that India is engaged at various levels with all the countries – Romania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Moldova, as well as Ukraine and Russia – with focus on the evacuation of Indian citizens. “With regard to other parts of Ukraine we are encouraging Indians to move to the western part of Ukraine. Our understanding is that some students in eastern Ukraine are boarding trains,” he added. “We want to emphasise that people should Not reach the border directly, if they do they will face long waiting times as we have seen on the Poland border. Yes, please reach the western parts of Ukraine, and please seek shelter in nearby towns,” he said in a message to students in Ukraine. He said the Indians should move to the border points “only in consultation with the MEA teams”.
“When you move to western Ukraine do not go on your own, there is a lot of rush there, and there will be a lot of waiting time; this was seen in Poland and also in Romania, you will have to wait in the cold,” he added. He said that Indians should go to the nearby towns and seek shelter. “We are making arrangements, and your universities must also be making arrangements. Wait there, our team will help you. Please don’t panic, there are enough flights. And move to the border only in consultation with our teams,” he reiterated. Regarding Kyiv and Kharkiv (in eastern Ukraine), he said “We are closely monitoring the situation there”. “The weekend curfew has been lifted in Kyiv, and we hear that it has also been lifted in Kharkiv,” he said, adding that the Indian embassy in Kyiv has issued an advisory to ask Indians to make their way to railway stations trains. “Our understanding is that many of our students are leaving Kyiv,” he added.
He said the MEA Control Room in Delhi has processed more than 8,000 calls and 6,000 emails so far. He said there are enough flights to take Indians back and the main focus is to ensure that Indians are able to cross over from Ukraine to the western countries. He added that the MEA is continually augmenting the presence of the MEA teams on the border points, as well as the strength of the Indian embassies in the western countries. He again reiterated that students should not panic, but move to the western part of the country, and share their locations with the MEA teams and wait for instructions.
