Russian officials said that 130 buses have been arranged for the evacuation of Indian students and other foreigners from Kharkiv and Sumy who are stuck amid the war in Ukraine. The Russian national defence control centre head colonel general Mikhail Mizintsev said earlier on Thursday.
“A total of 130 comfortable buses are ready to depart to Kharkov and Sumy from the Nekhoteyevka and Sudzha checkpoints in the Belgorod Region from 6 AM today in order to rescue Indian students and citizens of other foreign states,” Mizintsev was quoted as saying by Russia-based news agency TASS.
Earlier this week, the foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that Indian officials were working to find out ways to evacuate citizens from the Russian side and eastern Ukraine.
People familiar with the developments told CNNNews18 that a team of Indian officials are stationed in Belgorod, which is close to Kharkiv, to facilitate the return of Indians. Mizintsev also said that places of temporary accommodation were being set up – a development officials mentioned above told CNNNews18 earlier this week – and places for resting were also set up at checkpoints.
He said that the refugees and people evacuated will be served hot meals and mobile clinics will be there to treat anyone with a health emergency. Stockpiles of medicines were also ready at these places, he was quoted as saying.
“The evacuees will then be transported to the city of Belgorod for subsequent departure to their homeland by air, including via Russian military airplanes,” Mizintsev said.
The officials mentioned above said that Indian officials are waiting in Belgorod and Kursk for the Indian students. The Indian mission in Moscow moved these teams from Moscow to the city of Belgorod to facilitate the evacuation.
More than 600 stranded Indian citizens and students were evacuated from Ukraine between Thursday night and early Friday morning, with more than 7,000 more slated to arrive in the next two days. Three C-17 flights of the Indian Air Force were deployed to bring back the citizens who later landed in Hindon Air Base in Uttar Pradesh. They were flown in from Romania and Hungary.
Two Indian students have died after getting caught in the war in Ukraine. One student was injured on Friday morning while fleeing from Kyiv. The student has been hospitalised.
Four ministers have also been deployed at nations bordering Ukraine to help with evacuation of stranded Indians in Ukraine. Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and General (Retd) VK Singh have stationed themselves in Hungary, Romanian and Moldova, Slovakia and Poland respectively.
Read the Latest News and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment