News Analysis India

Tag: Ukraine

  • Cabinet Committee on Security likely to meet again on Saturday amid Ukraine war 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is likely to meet again on Saturday amid the Russian offensive against Ukraine, sources in the government said.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a meeting of the CCS on Thursday night after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine.

    He also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for an immediate cessation of violence while stressing that India attaches the highest priority to the safe exit and return of its citizens from Ukraine.

    The proposed meet of the key cabinet panel comes amid New Delhi’s efforts to evacuate Indian citizens from the battle zone.

    Besides the prime minister, the defence minister, the home minister, the external affairs minister and the finance minister are part of the CCS. Top officials of the security apparatus are also called to attend CCS meet.

  • CM Channi requests Jaishankar to make arrangements for safe evacuation of Indians from Ukraine 

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, requesting that the central government makes immediate arrangements for the safe evacuation of Indians, including Punjabis, stuck in Ukraine following a Russian military offensive.

    “I would like to bring to your notice that a number of students and other Punjabis are stranded in Ukraine. Their parents and family members are worried about their safety because of the situation which has developed there. They are facing a number of problems like place to stay, cash crunch, etc. ,” Channi wrote.

    He requested the Centre to make immediate necessary arrangements for the safe evacuation of the Indians, including Punjabis, stuck in Ukraine. He requested the External Affairs Ministry to further intensify its efforts to explore all diplomatic channels to ensure safe return of Indians.

    “While the evacuation may take some time, meanwhile, Govt. of India may ensure safety of these people within Ukraine,” he said. On Thursday, Channi had sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention for the rescue and safe return of Indians, including Punjabis, stuck in Ukraine.

    Former union minister and SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday urged Jaishankar to take immediate steps to ensure the safety of Punjabi students trapped in Ukraine as well as their safe passage to India. She shared with the government a list of 33 students from Punjab who are studying in various colleges in Ukraine.

    She said there was a likelihood of more Punjabis being stranded in Ukraine, besides people from other states, according to a statement.

    Badal said a concerted effort needed to be taken through the Indian embassy in Ukraine to ensure the safety of the students and Indian nationals there. Badal also reached out separately to Reenat Sandhu, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry, and requested that all help be extended to Indian students through the embassy in Ukraine.

    Earlier, Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann too had appealed to the Union government to make arrangements to bring back Indian students safely and had also raised the issue of “multi-fold increase in air ticket prices”.

    Punjab Lok Congress president and former chief minister Amarinder Singh have also urged the Centre “to put all mechanisms in place for the safe and early return of all our nationals stuck there”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday stressed that India attaches the highest priority to the safe exit and return of its citizens from Ukraine.

  • Air India plans to operate two flights to Bucharest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Air India is planning to operate two flights to the Romanian capital Bucharest on Friday to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine due to a Russian military offensive, senior government officials said.

    Indian nationals who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road will be taken to Bucharest by officials of the Indian government so that they can be evacuated in the two Air India flights, they added.

    The Ukrainian airspace was closed for civil aircraft operations by the country’s authorities on Thursday morning and therefore, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest.

    The two Air India flights will depart from Bucharest on Saturday, the officials said. Air India did not respond to PTI’s request for comments on the development. Around 20,000 Indians — mainly students — are currently stranded in Ukraine, the officials noted.

    ALSO READ | Nearly 2,500 students from Gujarat stranded in Ukraine

    The distance between the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the Romanian border is approximately 600 kilometres and it takes anywhere between eight and a half to 11 hours to cover the distance by road.

    The distance from the Ukraine-Romania border to Bucharest is approximately 500 kilometres and it takes anywhere between seven to nine hours to cover the distance by road.

  • Waking up to explosions: Indian students in Ukraine narrate situation amid Russian attack

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Some of the Indian students stranded in Ukraine are a little too close to the war. Many of them are in Kharkiv and Odessa. Both places have witnessed airstrikes. Authorities have asked them to move to bunkers.

    Inside the overcrowded bunkers – some real and some makeshift like tube stations and basements – they are waking up to explosions. Some have seen fighter jets roaring through the sky. Some even say that rockets landed in places nor far from where they are.

    Aousaf Hussain, a 26-year-old MBBS student in Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine, said that the army is all over the city. Having heard explosions since the morning, he and his friends decided to stay spend the night at Naukova metro station, with local residents. He is from Kerala.

    “I first went to a bunker made during Second World War era. But it dimly lit and overcrowded. There was a mother with her young baby in a pram. I don’t know how they are managing. I then moved to the metro station,” Hussain told The New Indian Express.

    Aousaf said that he started making videos of the military conducting marches on the streets, but when they spotted him they yelled and asked him to delete it. He added that no one from the Indian embassy has come to their rescue so far. They are completely on their own. “Around 150-200 students are there in the metro station,” he said.

    Students in Odessa, in the southern part of the country, also reported shelling and bombing. Some even captured these scenes on camera. “About 5-10 kms from our place, massive shelling took place and the sky turned black,” said Kuldeep Singh, a 24-year-old student of National Medical University. He is from Uttar Pradesh.

    Vishal Yadav, a third-year student in Odessa from Varanasi, does not know what future has in store. “The situation is tense. An emergency has been declared. News channels are saying that the Russian army wants the Ukraine army to surrender. We are also hearing people are being killed. It’s scary,” he said.

    West Bengal’s Anindya Sekhar Bhadra, a third-year MBBS student in Vinnytsia, woke up to a loud explosion near her hostel. Vinnytsia is in west-central Ukraine. “There is a military base where the explosion took place. A cloud of fear has covered the sky of Vinnytsia. Locals are leaving for safer places,” said Bhadra.

    People in Kharkiv have been asked to take shelter. “Authorities asked us to stay in bunkers, which in our case is the basement of our hostel, Airstrikes by Russia have started. I came here 15 days ago to complete my admission process. The situation is tense but we are safe so far,” said Pratik Jondhale of Nasik.

    Zafar Ali, from Kashmir’s Baramulla, was not very far from a place where a rocket landed. He is stuck in Odessa. “Panic gripped all of us after a rocket landed about a kilometre from our university. Fear is growing with each passing moment,” Zafar said. He is among the 20 students from J&K in Odessa.

    Inputs from Pranab Mondal (Kolkata), Sudhir Suryawanshi (Mumbai) and Fayaz Wani (Srinagar)

  • Ukraine crisis: PM Modi speaks to Putin, calls for immediate cessation of violence

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine conflict and appealed for immediate cessation of violence as well as concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations.

    During their telephonic conversation, President Putin briefed Prime Minister Modi about the recent developments regarding Ukraine, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

    The prime minister reiterated his long-standing conviction that the differences between Russia and the NATO group can only be resolved through honest and sincere dialogue, the PMO said.

    Prime Minister Modi appealed for an immediate cessation of violence, and called for concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and dialogue, it said.

    Modi also sensitised the Russian President about India’s concerns regarding the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine, especially students, and conveyed that India attaches the highest priority to their safe exit and return.

    The leaders agreed that their officials and diplomatic teams would continue to maintain regular contacts on issues of topical interest, the PMO said.

  • We will take all possible steps to bring back Indians from Ukraine: Shringla

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India on Thursday assured its citizens stranded in Ukraine that it will take all possible steps to bring them back safe and sound.

    Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at a media briefing that the Indian embassy in Ukraine is extending all possible assistance to the Indians notwithstanding the complicated situation.

    He said a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by PM Narendra Modi, was underway on the Ukraine crisis.

    Shringla said Modi conveyed at the CCS meeting that the topmost priority of the government is the safety and security of Indians and their evacuation from Ukraine.

    The foreign secretary said around 4,000 Indian nationals out of 20,000 have already left Ukraine in the past few days.

    “The situation on the ground is difficult and rapidly evolving,” he said.

    “I want to assure all Indian citizens including students in Ukraine that we will take all possible steps to bring you back safe and sound,” he said.

    Shringla said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will speak to foreign ministers of Romania, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary on the Ukraine crisis.

  • Large number of Indian students turn up outside embassy in Kyiv

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A large number of Indian students in Ukraine on Thursday turned up outside the Indian embassy in Kyiv seeking assistance after Russia launched a military operation targeting several Ukrainian cities.

    The students demanded the embassy to ensure their safety and security.

    Government sources said the embassy organised “safe premises for the students nearby and the students were moved in there”.

    They said the process took some time given the ground situation in Kyiv. “No Indian national is currently stranded outside the embassy. As fresh students arrive, they are being moved to the safe premises,” said a source.

    The embassy said around 200 Indian students were provided shelter.

    Indian ambassador to Ukraine Partha Satpathy later interacted with the Indian students and assured all possible assistance.

    “It has been a very anxious day for you all. We heard that your flight is cancelled and realised that all of you are here. And as you know martial law has been imposed and too many people cannot be together,” he said.

    “So we took a conscious decision to keep you outside for authorities to see the numbers,” he said adding that led to the negotiations and eventually the place for their accommodation.

    The sources said the Indian embassy is continuing to assist Indian nationals, including students, in Ukraine.

    Currently, 20,000 Indians, mostly students, are stranded in Ukraine.

  • MP woman duped of Rs 42,000 by caller from ‘PMO’ who offered help to bring her daughter from Ukraine

    By Express News Service

    BHOPAL: Families of Indian students stranded in Ukraine following an invasion by Russia have to be wary as there is the likelihood of fraudsters targetting them. 

    In a case reported on Thursday, a female staffer of a government hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha district lodged a complaint with the local police stating that a stranger rang her up, introduced himself as calling from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Delhi, and offered his help to bring her daughter, who is doing medicine in Ukraine, home from the war-torn country.

    The lab technician with the blood bank at Vidisha District Hospital, Vaishali Wilson, informed the Vidisha City Kotwali police that the caller told her that the government is working for the safe return of all Indian students and asked her to transfer Rs 42,000 into a bank account for urgently arranging the air tickets for bringing her daughter home on a flight bound for India on February 27.

    “We promptly transferred Rs 42,000 into the bank account on Wednesday. But neither I nor my daughter received any air ticket from Ukraine to India,” Vaishali Wilson said.

    “After repeated phone calls, the caller repaid Rs 5,000. He also assured to return the entire sum soon. But we don’t believe in him. Hence we lodged a police complaint,” she pointed out.

    Importantly, the two cell phone numbers from which the government hospital staffer received the calls on Wednesday are displayed as “Central Government of India” and “Prince Ji PMO CVC” on the Truecaller app.

    Vidisha City Kotwali inspector in charge Ashutosh Singh Rajput said, “we’ve launched a probe into the matter. We’ve also approached the bank to which the money was transferred.”

    Earlier, when she rang up the Chief Minister’s Helpline in MP seeking the CM’s intervention to help bring her daughter back from Ukraine, the staff who attended the call asked her to lodge a complaint with the police in Ukraine.

  • Russian attack on Ukraine: PM Modi chairs meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Thursday after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine.

    Sources said Modi is also likely to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Besides Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar were seen in a video of the meeting shared by official sources.

    #WATCH Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) pic.twitter.com/9lvHMRi1bT
    — ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2022
    Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Hardeep Singh Puri who are not part of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) were in the meeting.

    National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and P K Mishra, the principal secretary to the prime minister, also attended the meeting.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin, who cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and announced the launch of the military offensive against Ukraine on Thursday, also warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to consequences they had “never seen”.

  • India looking at ways to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India on Thursday was finalising contingency plans to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine after Russia launched a large-scale military attack on its neighbouring country even as the European Union reached out to New Delhi for its contribution to defuse the “grave situation”.

    With around 20,000 Indians stuck in Ukraine, the top brass of the government handling strategic affairs held a series of high-level meetings to put into operation certain contingency plans to assist the Indians.

    After Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “military operation” in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, Russia launched multiple attacks on several areas in central and eastern Ukraine that attracted severe condemnation from the US and its allies.

    As the Ukrainian government declared a state emergency and closed the country’s airspace for civilian flights, the Indian embassy in Kyiv issued three separate advisories in the course of the day appealing to the Indians to maintain calm and remain safe wherever they are.

    The embassy said in view of the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, alternative arrangements are being made for the evacuation of Indian nationals.

    However, it did not provide any clarity on evacuation arrangements.

    Separately, the Indian ambassador to Ukraine, Partha Satpathy, called on Indians to face the current situation with “calm and fortitude” as the situation is “highly tense and very uncertain”.

    The envoy said the Ministry of External Affairs and the embassy are working on a “mission mode” to find a “solution to this difficult situation”.

    In the midst of the Russian offensive, European Union’s High Representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and discussed the “grave situation” and how India could contribute to de-escalating the situation.

    “Received a call from EU HRVP @JosepBorrellF. Discussed the grave situation in Ukraine and how India could contribute to de-escalation efforts,” Jaishankar tweeted.

    The 27-nation European Union has been playing a key role to defuse the crisis.

    In its latest advisory, the Indian embassy said the movement of people is now difficult in Ukraine as it is under martial law and those hearing air sirens and bomb warnings should find nearby bomb shelters.

    “We are aware that certain places are hearing air sirens/bomb warnings. In case you are faced with such a situation, Google maps have a list of nearby bomb shelters, many of which are located in underground metros,” it said.

    “While the mission is identifying a possible solution to the situation, please be aware of your surroundings, be safe, do not leave your homes unless necessary and carry your documents with you at all times,” it said.

    The ambassador said the Indian embassy in Kyiv continues to remain open and operate.

    “I am reaching out to you from Kyiv. Today early morning, we all woke up with the news that Ukraine is under attack. The situation is highly tense and very uncertain and this of course is causing a lot of anxiety,” he said.

    “The air space is closed, railway schedules are in flux and roads are crammed. I would request everyone to stay calm and face the situation with fortitude,” Satpathy said.

    He said the embassy has already reached out to the Indian diaspora in Ukraine and requested them to assist the Indians to the “best of their abilities”.

    “I urge you to please stay wherever you are, in your familiar locations. Those who are in transit, please return to your familiar places of habitation,” he said.

    “Those who are stranded here in Kyiv, please get in touch with your friends and colleagues in Kyiv, universities and other community members, so that you can temporarily lodge there,” Satpathy said.

    Government sources said “contingency plans are being put into operation and that the immediate priority is to assist the Indians”.

    In one of its advisories, the Indian embassy said: “All those who are travelling to Kyiv, including those travelling from western parts of Kyiv, are advised to return to their respective cities temporarily, especially towards safer places along with the western bordering countries.”

    It is learnt that the government is exploring the possibility of facilitating the movement of the stranded Indians to Polland from where they can be evacuated. However, there is no clarity on it.

    In a related development, Ukraine’s Ambassador to India Igor Polikha said India has a “special” relationship with Russia and it can play a more proactive role in de-escalation of the situation. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among very few leaders who President Vladimir Putin listens to and New Delhi can use its proximity with Moscow to control the situation.

    At the same time, he said Ukraine was “deeply dissatisfied” with India’s position on the crisis.

    India has been pressing for de-escalation of tensions taking into account the legitimate security interests of all countries.

    The situation in Ukraine deteriorated after Putin announced the military operation in Ukraine.

    Following Putin’s announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said an “invasion” could be the beginning of a “big war” in Europe.