Last major Indian group evacuated from Sumy amid heavy shelling; Know how

New Delhi, Mar 9: In a major development, the Indian students stranded in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy have been evacuated by the Indian government. They were finally moved towards Poltava in the central part of the country, from where they will be taken in trains to Ukraine’s western border.

 

Sumy is known for educational institutions with a large number of international students residing there. However, the city was witnessing heavy shelling and intense exchange of fire between Russians and Ukrainian forces since the war broke on February 24. Since then, Indians and other international students were seen making several desperate pleas for evacuation through social media.

 

 

 

The evacuation from Sumy was initially announced by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The evacuation from Sumy was difficult as severe uncertain conditions were taking place in the region near the Russian border. This development of evacuation came a day after PM Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and sought their support for safe and quick evacuation of Indians from Sumy.

 

 

The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday announced that it had evacuated all Indian students from Ukraine's Sumy. "Happy to inform that we have been able to move out all Indian students from Sumy. They are currently en route to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine. Flights under #OperationGanga are being prepared to bring them home," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

 

India also engaged with Red Cross both in Geneva and Ukraine and sought assistance in evacuation. Indian ambassador to Ukraine and his team were also constantly engaged with local authorities and the defence ministry was also roped in.

 

 

The Indian embassy in Ukraine had earlier issued an advisory. It said, “The humanitarian corridor for evacuation of stranded people has been announced in various parts of Ukraine from 1000 hrs on March 8. Considering the security situation, establishment of the next humanitarian corridor is uncertain.”

 

 

“All stranded Indian nationals are urged to make use of this opportunity and evacuate using trains or vehicles or any other available means of transport giving due consideration to safety,” the embassy said.

 

Under 'Operation Ganga' to rescue Indian citizens from Ukraine's neighbouring countries, about 18 thousand Indians have been brought back by special flights so far. 410 Indians were brought back on Tuesday by special Civilian flights from Ukraine's neighbouring countries by 2 special civilian flights from Suceava, said the Ministery of Civil Aviation press release.

 

 

With this, about 18,000 Indians have been brought back through the special flights which began on February 22, 2022. The number of Indians airlifted by 75 special civilian flights goes up to 15521. IAF had flown 12 missions to bring back 2467 passengers, as part of Operation Ganga, and carried over 32-tonne relief material, read the release. The humanitarian toll has increased amid Russian military operations in Ukraine that was launched on February 24. As per the UN, around 1.5 million refugees have fled Ukraine.