Indian embassy in Ukraine shuts down after attempts to evacuate citizens from Kyiv
New Delhi/IBNS: The Indian embassy in Ukraine's capital Kyiv has shut down and the Ambassador and the staff are moving to the western part of the country, media reports quoting sources have said.
India has been advising students and others to move to the western borders, a process that has been extremely challenging amid the tough conditions and frequent bombing.
The Indian embassy is likely to be relocated to western Ukraine's Lviv now, for which office space has been identified, sources told NDTV.
Russia is waging war in violation of international humanitarian law. Kills civilians, destroys civilian infrastructure. Russiaʼs main target is large cities that now fired at by its missiles.
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) March 1, 2022
📍Kharkiv, Administration building pic.twitter.com/BJgyNnDp1h
Students who have reached India shared their ordeals in reaching the western border from Kyiv and the second-largest city Kharkiv, which is being bombed by Russian forces frequently.
Earlier in the day, the embassy issued a fresh advisory asking all its nationals including the students stuck in the war-torn country to leave Kyiv immediately.
The embassy has also advised the stranded people to avail trains to leave Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, which is attacked by Russia.
A 21-year-old Indian student from the southern state of Karnataka was killed during shelling in Kharkiv, on the sixth day of the ongoing war between Moscow and Kyiv.
Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, who hailed from Chalageri village of the state, was killed when he stepped out to buy groceries.
India will operate 26 flights over the next three days to fly back Indian citizens who have moved from Ukraine to neighbouring countries, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla informed reporters on Tuesday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting on the country's evacuation efforts called 'Operation Ganga'.
Besides Romania's Bucharest and Hungary's Budapest, airports in Poland and Slovak Republic will also be used for the evacuation efforts, he added.
There were an estimated 20,000 Indian students in Ukraine when the government issued its first advisory.
"From that number, approximately 12,000 have since left Ukraine, which is 60 per cent of the total," he said.
"Of the remaining 40 per cent, roughly half remain in the conflict zone in Kharkiv, Sumy area and the other half has either reached the western borders of Ukraine or are heading towards the western part of Ukraine... they are generally out of conflict areas," Shringla said.
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