By PTI
NEW DELHI: 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 8,000 Indians left that country since the first advisory was issued earlier this month before the conflict began.
External Affairs Ministery Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that 1,396 Indians were brought back home in six flights in the last few days as part of the evacuation mission.
The 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 back.
A large number of Indians left the country following the advisories.
The MEA spokesperson also said India is sending humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Bagchi said the government has decided to send four union ministers as the prime minister’s envoys to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova to oversee the evacuation of Indian nationals through Ukrainian land border crossings with these countries.
He 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 Poland.
“The 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 permits.
“That 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 said.
Bagchi 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 said.
The MEA spokesperson also urged the Indian students not to panic.
“I 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 said.
“Our estimate is that over 8,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since we issued the initial advisories. It’s not since the conflict began, but since we issued the initial advisories,” he emphasised.
Bagchi said India’s 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 difficult.
He said there has been progress in the evacuation of people along the border in Romania and that exiting through the Hungarian transit point is also picking up momentum.
The 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 Romania.
“This new route should help Indians in Southern Ukraine. We are looking at how we can move them to Moldova and then to Romania,” he said.
Bagchi said India is encouraging its citizens to move to western Ukraine and that the MEA’s understanding is that some students in the cities in eastern Ukraine are boarding trains to the western side.
“We 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 too.”
“Please do reach in the western part of the country, but please seek shelter in nearby towns,” he said.
Bagchi said flights are not a constraint.
“We 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 said.
India 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 Ukraine.
It is using the land routes to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack.
Stepping up its efforts to evacuate thousands of Indians stuck in Ukraine, the government on Monday decided to send four Union ministers to the neighbouring countries of the war-torn country to coordinate the evacuation process even as the external affairs ministry said nearly 8,000 nationals have returned in the last fortnight.
The decision to send Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and V K Singh as “special envoys” of India to coordinate the evacuation process was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also held another high-level meeting in the evening on Ukraine, government sources said.
Official sources said Modi spoke to all four ministers personally to convey the decision that they will be coordinating evacuation efforts on the ground from the countries in Ukraine’s neighbourhood.
Scindia will take care of evacuation efforts from Romania and Moldova while Rijiju will go to Slovakia, sources said, adding Puri will go to Hungary and Singh will be in Poland to manage the evacuation.
The decision to send these ministers came a day after Modi asserted that ensuring the safety of Indian students and evacuating them is the government’s top priority.
Monday meeting was also attended by several ministers, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla among other senior officials.
Also on Monday, Shringla briefed a parliamentary panel on the situation in Ukraine amid a Russian military offensive and India’s efforts to evacuate its citizens through land check-posts with five neighbouring countries, sources said.
They said the foreign secretary informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs that in the next two days the government is planning to operate 13 evacuation flights to the neighbouring nations of the war-torn country and the number of daily flights would be increased to nine.
During the briefing, Shringla also said that Russian-speaking officers had been sent to the border check-posts and Indian embassies in Ukraine’s five neighbouring countries — Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Moldova — to boost evacuation efforts.
Asserting that India has managed to accelerate its efforts to get its nationals out of Ukraine in the last 24 hours, the MEA said a total of 1,396 Indians were brought back home in six flights as part of the evacuation mission.
MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also said the total number of Indians who have left Ukraine since India issued the first advisory earlier this month is around 8,000.
India is also sending humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, the ministry said.
Calling Modi’s decision to send four ministers a “visionary step”, Singh told reporters “I am leaving for Poland today and will coordinate with both Ukraine and Poland to facilitate the evacuation of Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine.”
“The other three ministers are likely to leave on Tuesday. After Singh’s travel announcement, Poland’s Ambassador to India Adam Burakowski held a closed-door meeting with the Union minister.”
Describing his meeting with Singh as “very good”, the ambassador said his country is allowing entry to people of all nationalities who are leaving war-hit Ukraine by road and food and shelter will be provided to them.
Amid reports claiming that Indians were facing difficulties on the Poland-Ukraine border, the ambassador said those who are trying to cross to Poland from Ukraine must refer to the social media handles of the Indian embassy in Warsaw and the Twitter handle of Operation Ganga.
“I would like to request all Indian nationals who are trying to cross to Poland from Ukraine that they must refer to the social media of Indian embassy in Warsaw and Twitter account of Operation Ganga,” Burakowski told PTI.
Modi had chaired a meeting on the Ukraine crisis on Sunday too.
It was decided at the meeting to further enhance cooperation with the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to expedite the evacuation of Indian students, sources had said.
According to sources, India has agreed to send humanitarian assistance including medical supplies to Ukraine at the request of the government there.
Top external affairs ministry officials on Monday briefed a parliamentary panel about efforts to bring back Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine, including plans for 13 evacuation flights in the next two-three days to its neighbouring countries and subsequent increase in the number of daily flights to nine, sources said.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla gave a detailed presentation to the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs on the situation in Ukraine following a Russian military offensive and India’s efforts to evacuate its citizens, they said.
For evacuation of Indian nationals through land borders with five neighbouring countries- Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Moldova – Russian-speaking officers from the ministry of external affairs here have been sent to the border check-posts and Indian embassies in these countries to boost evacuation efforts.
The agenda of the parliamentary panel chaired by BJP leader P P Chaudhary was to deliberate on the ministry’s Demand for Grants for the financial year 2022-23, but it took up the crisis in Ukraine following a written notice of RSP MP NK Premchandran and request of other MPs.
Briefing the committee members about Operation Ganga launched by the government to rescue Indian nationals, including students, from Ukraine, Shringla and other external affairs ministry officials informed the panel that around 13 flights are expected to be operated in the next two-three days.
Systematic planning is being done to evacuate citizens and the ministry is working to multi-fold increase the number of daily flights to evacuate stranded Indians, to around nine, according to sources.
Shringla told the committee that so far around 1,200 students had returned in five flights.
Several thousand others had crossed the Ukrainian border or were in the process of doing so, the sources said.
The committee was also briefed on the measures being taken by the government to work with the International Committee of the Red Cross in ensuring the safety of Indian nationals in Ukraine, they said.
The Committee unanimously appreciated the measures being taken by the government for its Operation Ganga to bring Indian nationals, particularly students, back from Ukraine, the sources said.
Some panel members also enquired about India’s position on the conflict at the international level and were informed that at the UN Security Council, India had asked for an immediate cessation of violence and hostilities.
India had also called for a return to diplomacy and dialogue and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, the sources added.
Talking about stranded students, officials informed the panel that three advisories were issued, but the students were reluctant to leave as they did not want to miss their exams, the sources said.
PTI MPB RT RT 02282107 NNNN