Ukraine crisis Four ministers deputed as special envoys to oversee evacuation India to send relief for border areas
New Delhi Feb 28 PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the entire government machinery was working round the clock to ensure all Indians in Ukraine are safe and secure as he deputed four Union ministers to countries bordering the war-hit nation as special envoys to oversee the rescue efforts and more evacuation flights were deployedIndia will also help people from neighbouring and developing countries who are stranded in the eastern European nation and the first consignment of relief supplies to Ukraine to deal with the humanitarian situation on its borders would be sent on TuesdayThe prime minister made the remarks at a high-level meeting his second of the day that was held to review the ongoing efforts under Operation Ganga to bring back the Indians stranded in Ukraine according to the Ministry of External Affairs MEA Spokesperson in the MEA Arindam Bagchi said around 8000 Indians left Ukraine since the first advisory was issued around a fortnight back and a total of 1396 Indians were brought back home in six flights after the evacuation mission was launched on SaturdayTwo of these Air India flights from Romanian capital Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest landed in Delhi on Monday with 489 Indian nationalsOther private carriers such as SpiceJet IndiGo and Air India Express have also sent their planes to the two cities for evacuation of Indians as the Ukraine airspace is closed for civilian aircraftMEA officials told a parliamentary panel they are planning 13 other flights in the next 2-3 days and subsequently nine flights a day according to sources As fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces raged on despite the two sides holding talks for the first time since the outbreak of hostilities around 14000 Indians including a large number of students were still stranded in Ukraine and have been narrating through the media and on phone their ordealWhile some are unable to move to western areas which are less affected others have reached borders but were unable to cross and were facing a shortage of food and waterThe Indian embassy in Ukraine advised all Indian students stranded in Kyiv to reach the railway station in the Ukrainian capital for their onward journey to the western parts of the war-torn country However an Indian student who managed to reach the Kyiv train station said Ukrainian guards were not allowing students to board trains and were also beating up peopleIts getting difficult for us to stay here Ansh Pandita told PTI as scores of Indian students including women sat huddled together at the teeming Vokzal railway station in Kyiv holding a large tricolour aloft so they could be recognised in the crowd and also so no one from the group gets lost Officials said the situation on the Polish border remained problematic as a large number of people had gathered there in order to cross the borderAt a media briefing the MEA spokesperson said the government has decided to send Union Minister Hardeep Puri Jyotiraditya Scindia Kiren Rijiju will and Gen retd V K Singh as the prime ministers special envoys to oversee the evacuation of IndiansHe said Puri will go to Hungary Scindia will oversee the evacuation process in Romania and Moldova 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 permitsBagchi said India managed to accelerate the evacuation process in the last 24 hours as a new border crossing has been opened through Moldova for taking the Indians to Romania and there was an improvement in the movement of people through the Polis transit pointHe said India is encouraging its citizens particularly students to move towards Western Ukraine and emphasised that they should not reach the border directlyAmid concerns over the safety of Indians in Ukraine the countrys envoy Igor Polikha said that his government is helping the stranded Indians and extending assistance in their evacuation notwithstanding the very difficult ground situationSpecifically asked about the safety of Indians he said that assurance can only be given by Russian President Vladimir Putin He also said that Ukraine was looking for humanitarian assistance from IndiaPolikha also rubbished the suggestion that Ukrainian authorities were discriminating against Indian citizens after India abstained from a UN Security Council resolution deploring the Russian military attack on the countryIn the briefing Bagchi said India is sending humanitarian assistance to Ukraine including medicinesBagchi 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 hours You 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 panicOur 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 emphasised With a large number of Indians stuck at the Polish border point along with several thousand other nationalities External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his counterpart from Poland Zbigniew Rau Discussed the Ukraine developments with RauZbigniew of PolandAppreciate Polands facilitation of the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine His words of support in that regard are very welcome he tweetedBagchi 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 in the Polish border is still difficultBagchi 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 PolandIndia 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 UkraineIndia 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
New Delhi Feb 28 PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the entire government machinery was working round the clock to ensure all Indians in Ukraine are safe and secure as he deputed four Union ministers to countries bordering the war-hit nation as special envoys to oversee the rescue efforts and more evacuation flights were deployedIndia will also help people from neighbouring and developing countries who are stranded in the eastern European nation and the first consignment of relief supplies to Ukraine to deal with the humanitarian situation on its borders would be sent on TuesdayThe prime minister made the remarks at a high-level meeting his second of the day that was held to review the ongoing efforts under Operation Ganga to bring back the Indians stranded in Ukraine according to the Ministry of External Affairs MEA Spokesperson in the MEA Arindam Bagchi said around 8000 Indians left Ukraine since the first advisory was issued around a fortnight back and a total of 1396 Indians were brought back home in six flights after the evacuation mission was launched on SaturdayTwo of these Air India flights from Romanian capital Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest landed in Delhi on Monday with 489 Indian nationalsOther private carriers such as SpiceJet IndiGo and Air India Express have also sent their planes to the two cities for evacuation of Indians as the Ukraine airspace is closed for civilian aircraftMEA officials told a parliamentary panel they are planning 13 other flights in the next 2-3 days and subsequently nine flights a day according to sources As fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces raged on despite the two sides holding talks for the first time since the outbreak of hostilities around 14000 Indians including a large number of students were still stranded in Ukraine and have been narrating through the media and on phone their ordealWhile some are unable to move to western areas which are less affected others have reached borders but were unable to cross and were facing a shortage of food and waterThe Indian embassy in Ukraine advised all Indian students stranded in Kyiv to reach the railway station in the Ukrainian capital for their onward journey to the western parts of the war-torn country However an Indian student who managed to reach the Kyiv train station said Ukrainian guards were not allowing students to board trains and were also beating up peopleIts getting difficult for us to stay here Ansh Pandita told PTI as scores of Indian students including women sat huddled together at the teeming Vokzal railway station in Kyiv holding a large tricolour aloft so they could be recognised in the crowd and also so no one from the group gets lost Officials said the situation on the Polish border remained problematic as a large number of people had gathered there in order to cross the borderAt a media briefing the MEA spokesperson said the government has decided to send Union Minister Hardeep Puri Jyotiraditya Scindia Kiren Rijiju will and Gen retd V K Singh as the prime ministers special envoys to oversee the evacuation of IndiansHe said Puri will go to Hungary Scindia will oversee the evacuation process in Romania and Moldova 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 permitsBagchi said India managed to accelerate the evacuation process in the last 24 hours as a new border crossing has been opened through Moldova for taking the Indians to Romania and there was an improvement in the movement of people through the Polis transit pointHe said India is encouraging its citizens particularly students to move towards Western Ukraine and emphasised that they should not reach the border directlyAmid concerns over the safety of Indians in Ukraine the countrys envoy Igor Polikha said that his government is helping the stranded Indians and extending assistance in their evacuation notwithstanding the very difficult ground situationSpecifically asked about the safety of Indians he said that assurance can only be given by Russian President Vladimir Putin He also said that Ukraine was looking for humanitarian assistance from IndiaPolikha also rubbished the suggestion that Ukrainian authorities were discriminating against Indian citizens after India abstained from a UN Security Council resolution deploring the Russian military attack on the countryIn the briefing Bagchi said India is sending humanitarian assistance to Ukraine including medicinesBagchi 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 hours You 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 panicOur 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 emphasised With a large number of Indians stuck at the Polish border point along with several thousand other nationalities External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his counterpart from Poland Zbigniew Rau Discussed the Ukraine developments with RauZbigniew of PolandAppreciate Polands facilitation of the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine His words of support in that regard are very welcome he tweetedBagchi 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 in the Polish border is still difficultBagchi 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 PolandIndia 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 UkraineIndia 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
