Ground situation complex and fluid we are accelerating evacuation process MEA
New Delhi Feb 28 PTI India on Monday said it managed to accelerate efforts to evacuate its nationals from Ukraine though the ground situation remained complex and fluid and noted that around 8000 Indians left that country since the first advisory was issued earlier this month before the conflict beganExternal Affairs Ministery Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that 1396 Indians were brought back home in six flights in the last few days as part of the evacuation missionThe Indian embassy in Kyiv had started issuing travel advisories requesting Indians to consider leaving that country after tensions between Ukraine and Russia began to increase Russia had launched the attack on the eastern European country four days backA large number of Indians left the country following the advisoriesThe MEA spokesperson also said India is sending humanitarian assistance to UkraineBagchi said thegovernment has decided to send four union ministers as the prime ministers envoys to Poland Romania Hungary Slovakia and Moldova to oversee the evacuation of Indian nationals through Ukrainian land border crossings with these countriesHe said Union Minister Hardeep Puri will go to Hungary Jyotiraditya Scindia will oversee the evacuation process in Romania and Moldova Kiren Rijiju will travel to Slovakia and Gen retd V K Singh is leaving for PolandThe special envoys will be travelling to these countries to basically coordinate and oversee the evacuation process on the ground Bagchi said adding they may also go close the places where the evacuation is happening if the situation permitsThat will depend on the specific circumstances I think you will see them operating there coordinating evacuation efforts and getting in touch with the local authorities as well as other partners which are helping in this process he saidBagchi said the situation on the ground in terms of evacuation continues to be complex and fluid but India has managed to accelerate the evacuation process in the last 24 hoursYou have seen media reports Some of them are concerning Nevertheless we have been able to accelerate our evacuation process clearly over the last 24 hours he saidThe MEA spokesperson also urged the Indian students not to panicI do not think the students should panic They should try to go to the western parts of Ukraine while contacting our control rooms and sharing their locations so that we can get them registered for their exit he saidOur estimate is that over 8000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since we issued the initial advisories Its not since the conflict began but since we issued the initial advisories he emphasisedBagchi said Indias focus has been on evacuating its nationals through the land border crossings noting that there has been some improvement in the movement of people into Poland through the situation on the Polish border is still difficultHe said there has been progress in the evacuation of people along theborder in Romania and that exiting through the Hungarian transit point is also picking up momentumThe spokesperson said India has managed to open a new route through Moldova and an MEA team has already reached that country this morning to assist the evacuation of Indians from Moldova to RomaniaThis new route should help Indians in Southern UkraineWe are looking at how we can move them to Moldova and then to Romania he saidBagchi said India is encouraging its citizens to move to western Ukraine and that the MEAs understanding is that some students in the cities in eastern Ukraine are boarding trains to the western sideWe want to emphasise that people should not reach the border directly If they do they will face a long waiting time to cross as you have seen on the Polish border You have seen it on the Romanian border tooPlease do reach in the western part of the country but please seek shelter in nearby towns he saidBagchi said flights are not a constraintWe will add more flights as needed We are continually augmenting the number of MEA teams in border crossing points We are also augmenting a number of officials in the nearby countries he saidIndia on Friday managed to set up camp offices in Lviv and Chernivtsi towns in western Ukraine to facilitate the transit of Indians to Hungary Romania and Poland India also positioned teams of officials at Zahony border post in Hungary Krakowiec as well as Shehyni-Medyka land border points in Poland Vysne Nemecke in the Slovak Republic and Suceava transit point in Romania to coordinate the exit of Indian nationals from UkraineIt is using the land routes to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack PTI MPB RT RT
New Delhi Feb 28 PTI India on Monday said it managed to accelerate efforts to evacuate its nationals from Ukraine though the ground situation remained complex and fluid and noted that around 8000 Indians left that country since the first advisory was issued earlier this month before the conflict beganExternal Affairs Ministery Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that 1396 Indians were brought back home in six flights in the last few days as part of the evacuation missionThe Indian embassy in Kyiv had started issuing travel advisories requesting Indians to consider leaving that country after tensions between Ukraine and Russia began to increase Russia had launched the attack on the eastern European country four days backA large number of Indians left the country following the advisoriesThe MEA spokesperson also said India is sending humanitarian assistance to UkraineBagchi said thegovernment has decided to send four union ministers as the prime ministers envoys to Poland Romania Hungary Slovakia and Moldova to oversee the evacuation of Indian nationals through Ukrainian land border crossings with these countriesHe said Union Minister Hardeep Puri will go to Hungary Jyotiraditya Scindia will oversee the evacuation process in Romania and Moldova Kiren Rijiju will travel to Slovakia and Gen retd V K Singh is leaving for PolandThe special envoys will be travelling to these countries to basically coordinate and oversee the evacuation process on the ground Bagchi said adding they may also go close the places where the evacuation is happening if the situation permitsThat will depend on the specific circumstances I think you will see them operating there coordinating evacuation efforts and getting in touch with the local authorities as well as other partners which are helping in this process he saidBagchi said the situation on the ground in terms of evacuation continues to be complex and fluid but India has managed to accelerate the evacuation process in the last 24 hoursYou have seen media reports Some of them are concerning Nevertheless we have been able to accelerate our evacuation process clearly over the last 24 hours he saidThe MEA spokesperson also urged the Indian students not to panicI do not think the students should panic They should try to go to the western parts of Ukraine while contacting our control rooms and sharing their locations so that we can get them registered for their exit he saidOur estimate is that over 8000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since we issued the initial advisories Its not since the conflict began but since we issued the initial advisories he emphasisedBagchi said Indias focus has been on evacuating its nationals through the land border crossings noting that there has been some improvement in the movement of people into Poland through the situation on the Polish border is still difficultHe said there has been progress in the evacuation of people along theborder in Romania and that exiting through the Hungarian transit point is also picking up momentumThe spokesperson said India has managed to open a new route through Moldova and an MEA team has already reached that country this morning to assist the evacuation of Indians from Moldova to RomaniaThis new route should help Indians in Southern UkraineWe are looking at how we can move them to Moldova and then to Romania he saidBagchi said India is encouraging its citizens to move to western Ukraine and that the MEAs understanding is that some students in the cities in eastern Ukraine are boarding trains to the western sideWe want to emphasise that people should not reach the border directly If they do they will face a long waiting time to cross as you have seen on the Polish border You have seen it on the Romanian border tooPlease do reach in the western part of the country but please seek shelter in nearby towns he saidBagchi said flights are not a constraintWe will add more flights as needed We are continually augmenting the number of MEA teams in border crossing points We are also augmenting a number of officials in the nearby countries he saidIndia on Friday managed to set up camp offices in Lviv and Chernivtsi towns in western Ukraine to facilitate the transit of Indians to Hungary Romania and Poland India also positioned teams of officials at Zahony border post in Hungary Krakowiec as well as Shehyni-Medyka land border points in Poland Vysne Nemecke in the Slovak Republic and Suceava transit point in Romania to coordinate the exit of Indian nationals from UkraineIt is using the land routes to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack PTI MPB RT RT
