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Tag: vladimir putin

  • 694 Indian students were in Sumy last night, all have left for Poltava in buses: Hardeep Singh Puri

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday confirmed that the evacuation process for Indian students stranded in the war-torn Ukrainian city of Sumy has started and they are being been taken in buses to Poltava.

    “Last night, I checked with the control room, 694 Indian students were remaining in Sumy. Today, they have all left in buses for Poltava,” Puri told reporters here.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy ways to start the stalled evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine’s besieged Sumy city pummelled by the invading Russian forces.

    India has brought back over 17,100 of its nationals from Ukraine so far while Indian students remained stuck in the northeastern city of Sumy with their evacuation dependent on the facilitation of a safe passage by Russian and Ukrainian authorities.

  • Students from India, including Karnataka, march in groups in Kharkiv risking their lives

    By PTI

    HAVERI: Students and workers from India, along with a large number of people from other countries, were marching on Wednesday in Kharkiv in war-ravaged Ukraine towards the nearest railway station risking their lives holding the Indian national flag, the father of one student said.

    “About 1,000 people, including 700 Indians, are marching towards the railway station holding the Indian flag. They are going to the railway station, which is seven kilometres from their bunker, by walk as no vehicles are available,” Venkatesh Vaishyar told PTI.

    Venkatesh’s son Amit V Vaishyar (23) is a fifth-year medical student in Kharkiv Medical College.

    He is among three students from Chalageri in Ranebennur taluk of Haveri district studying MBBS in Kharkiv Medical College.

    ALSO READ: Karnataka parents demand Modi make use of friendship with Russia to evacuate students

    Amit’s cousin Suman (24), son of Sridhar Murthy Vaishyar, is also a student there and both of them are trying to return from the strife-torn country.

    On Tuesday, their junior 22-year-old Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagouda was killed in a shelling when he moved out of the bunker to fetch some food, water and exchange currency.

    “Students have no option but to take the risk as they don’t have food and water. They are relying on God now and walking towards the railway station,” Venkatesh said.

    With tears in his eyes, he said Amit is his only son and if something happens to him he will not be able to live.

    Meanwhile, Naveen’s father Shekarappa Gyanagouda broke down as he saw the photograph of his son’s body on WhatsApp, which is in a morgue in Kharkiv.

    ALSO READ: Russia-Ukraine war – Many Karnataka students board trains to escape conflict

    Naveen is the second son of Gyanagouda.

    His elder brother Harsha is an MSc in Agriculture and is with the parents.

    Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday told reporters in Bengaluru that he will make sincere efforts to bring Naveen’s body back to India.

    “I will speak to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Indian Embassy in Ukraine to get updates of the efforts to get Naveen’s body. We will make a serious effort,” Bommai said.

    According to him, the Indian officials have intensified their efforts to evacuate people stranded in Kharkiv, especially students.

    Bommai said 26 aircraft would be pressed into service to bring the stranded people back to India.

    ALSO READ: Efforts underway to bring back mortal remains of Naveen, says CM Bommai

    The students have been asked to come from different directions.

    Since the war is raging, evacuation is a bit problematic, Bommai said adding that the Ukrainian authorities have asked the evacuees to form groups and march towards the railway station.

    The Chief Minister said efforts have been made to slowly evacuate people.

    Regarding compensation to Naveen’s family, Bommai said the government can do anything but the priority right now is to bring the body to India.

    “Whatever is in our hand we will do it. We will certainly give compensation. The family is in pain. We have to get the body first for which we have intensified our efforts,” Bommai said.

    Another unidentified student from Haveri district sustained injuries due to the shelling in Kharkiv, Bommai had said on Tuesday.

  • Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren seeks Amit Shah’s intervention for safe return of stranded people from Ukraine

    By PTI

    RANCHI: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday sought the Centre’s immediate intervention for the safe return of people who are stranded in strife-torn Ukraine.

    In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the chief minister also shared a list of persons from Jharkhand stuck in the crisis-hit country.

    The letter read, “Estimated 20,000 Indians including 18,000 students are believed to be stranded in Ukraine. My office is constantly being approached by the relatives of those persons from Jharkhand who are stuck in Ukraine during war times. They are in a state of panic and horror and compelled to move with limited stock of essential provisions to makeshift safety places like underground metro rail lines.

    “I feel we must reach out to them in this hour of crisis and make best possible efforts to evacuate them back home.”

    Soren requested the Home Minister to instruct officials concerned of the Government of India to make necessary arrangements to facilitate the quick evacuation of Jharkhand students stuck in Ukraine.

    “Till such time they could be accommodated in safe places with an adequate supply of essentials,” the letter read.

    An official with the state control room said, till 5 pm on Saturday, the Jharkhand government had managed to trace 86 students from the state stuck in Ukraine.

    “We are revising the list and a fresh one will be released by Sunday evening,” the official said.

    The chief minister had also announced that the state government would reimburse travel expenses of all Jharkhand residents who are stranded and returning on their own cost from crisis-hit Ukraine.

  • Air India​ evacuation flights costing Rs 7-8 lakh per hour: Source

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: As Air India ferries hundreds of Indians stranded in Ukraine, the cost of operating a two-way evacuation flight will be more than Rs 1.10 crore and the amount will go up depending on the duration of the flights.

    The airline is operating the services with wide-body Boeing 787 plane, better known as Dreamliner, from neighbouring countries of conflict-ridden Ukraine, including Romania and Hungary.

    It has already brought back hundreds of Indians.

    ALSO READ: I need ammunition, not a ride: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declines US offer to evacuate Kyiv

    The flights have been chartered by the Indian government.

    An airline source told PTI that the cost of operating a chartered flight with the Dreamliner is around Rs 7 to 8 lakh per hour and the total amount will depend “on where we are going and how far we are going”.

    The total cost will include expenses related to crew, fuel, navigation, landing and parking charges.

    Also, considering that these flights are for relatively long duration, there will be two sets of crew onboard.

    ALSO READ: Honesty, reassurance – How to talk to kids about Ukraine

    The crew that operates the first leg of the flight will take rest in the return leg and will be replaced by another set of crew, the source said on condition of anonymity.

    Currently, Air India is operating flights to Bucharest (Romania) and Budapest (Hungary) and both are offline stations for the airline, which means it does not have scheduled services to these places.

    According to flight tracking website FlightAware, the flight from Bucharest to Mumbai that landed on Saturday night was for a duration of nearly six hours.

    The flight from Budapest to Delhi was for about six hours and another flight from Delhi to Bucharest took over seven hours.

    ALSO READ: Serbia rejects Western calls to join sanctions on Russia

    An Air India flight from Bucharest to Delhi took over 5 hours.

    As the cost will be between Rs 7 to 8 lakh per hour, the total cost for a round trip will be more than Rs 1.10 crore.

    The figure is calculated under the assumption that overall duration of the to and fro flight is around 14 hours.

    The expenses will shoot up in case the duration is longer.

    EXPLAINER: What does Ukraine invasion mean for energy bills?

    The government is not charging people for the evacuation flights.

    Some state governments have also announced that they will bear the expenses of people from their respective states who are returning from Ukraine.

    The Dreamliner has more than 250 seats.

    According to pilots who fly Dreamliners, the aircraft on an average consumes 5 tonnes of fuel per hour.

    ALSO READ: NATO leaders agree to bolster eastern forces after invasion

    The source said that once the operations are complete, the exact cost will be worked out and then the airline will send the bill to the government for reimbursement.

    Air India did not offer comments on queries about the cost involved in operating the evacuation flights.

    According to the source, the overall cost will be comparatively lower if the chartered flight is operated to a scheduled destination as already factors like getting fuel would have been taken care of.

    In evacuation operations, the airline operates a ferry flight from India to the destination concerned.

    ALSO READ: Protests resume as Russia seeks to quash invasion critics

    Generally, a ferry flight refers to service wherein the plane does not have people onboard except the crew members.

    Till now, a few Air India flights have returned with Indians, who were stranded in Ukraine, from Bucharest and Budapest.

    Indians crossed the Ukranian borders with Romania and Hungary, respectively, before they were flown out from these destinations.

    On February 24, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that around 16,000 Indians, mainly students, were stranded in Ukraine, which is now engaged in an intense battle with Russia.

    ALSO READ: For Taiwan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine feels far away

    Since then, over 900 Indians have returned and there would be now around 15,000 Indians in Ukraine and its border areas.

    Ukranian airspace is closed for civilian flights since February 24 amid the Russian offensive.

  • Two-time Oscar-nominated Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky blasts ‘tragic mistake’

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Two-time Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who lives and works in Russia, has said he felt “unbearably ashamed” and “incredibly, deeply sad” when his son called from Kiev on Thursday with news that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had begun.

    Rodnyansky, who was born in Kiev, said in an email interview with ‘Variety’: “Of course, I realised before that the situation might go this way, but I still couldn’t believe that missiles are exploding in Kiev.’

    The producer of the Golden Globe winner ‘Leviathan’ and Cesar award-winner ‘Loveless’ said: “I couldn’t imagine that Kiev, my native town, where my relatives, friends and colleagues live, where my parents and grandparents are buried, will be struck by missiles of the country where I have been living and working for the last 20 years, together with my family and friends.”

    Trying to make sense of the current crisis, Rodnyansky drew a parallel to the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan, which began more than 40 years ago and raged for a decade.

    He told ‘Variety’: “I remember very well how the Soviet government explained to us the absolute necessity of the Afghan war. And how it took 10 years, 15,000 Soviet soldiers and nearly a million Afghans killed to admit that it was a tragic error.”

    Russia’s war on Ukraine, Rodnyansky said, is “another tragic mistake”. It is not because “the national economy will crash, our country will stagnate in global isolation and deepen the ever-growing technological gap,” he said, “but because the shame for this mistake will never go away. It will stay with our children and our grandchildren.”

  • AJR cancels Russian tour due to Ukraine invasion

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Multiplatinum indie-pop trio AJR has cancelled their upcoming concert date in Russia, scheduled for October after the country struck Ukraine.

    “We are sad to announce that we will be cancelling our upcoming show in Russia,” the band wrote on social media.

    “Thank you to our Russian fans who oppose their country’s unprovoked and criminal behavior. Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine. At this point, the best thing you can do is share ACCURATE info.”

    They’re hardly the only major Western act with tour dates scheduled in the country. While the status of many tours is unclear given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, dozens of artists are scheduled to perform in Russia in the coming weeks, and especially in the summer, reports variety.com.

    According to artist websites, Songkick and other sources, in Moscow alone, Saint Jhn, Tricky, Disclosure and Bring Me the Horizon have shows scheduled for March and April, with Khalid, OneRepublic, Yungblud, Girl in Red, Judas Priest, Denzel Curry, OneRepublic and a Green Day concert at Spartak Stadium slated for May.

    Those are just a preamble for what was looking to be a very busy summer concert season, including the alt-rock-leaning Bol festival and two Park Live festivals along with summer dates by Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Imagine Dragons, Bjork, Eric Clapton and others.

    Geoff Meall, a London-based agent for Paradigm Agency, tells Variety: “We’ve got (multiple) of acts due to be going there from next month right through the summer — rock acts, alternative acts, a lot of electronic artists as well. As it stands, I can’t see any of those shows being able to happen.”

    “Ukraine is an obviously an active war zone so it’s impossible to do a concert there, and with Russia, first, every government is advising its citizens not to go there unless it’s essential business — rock and roll probably wouldn’t be considered that — but more, a lot of artists wouldn’t want to be seen as supporting the actions of that government at the moment.

    “This is not normal,” he adds.

    “It’s a Western-ish, modern country, and I’m getting emails back from people there saying they were woken up at 5 a.m. yesterday by missiles hitting buildings close to them — that’s not a normal conversation we have with our promoters anywhere.”

    “I asked how a friend there was doing and he’s bunkered in a metro station, it’s insane. People’s lives changed in 24 hours.”

    While very few Western acts performed in what was then the Eastern Bloc until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, the territory has become a lucrative one: UK rock act Bring Me the Horizon has 10 dates in Russia and even one in Ukraine still on its tour schedule, and Meall says that Canadian act Three Days Grace did a 19-date tour in the country a few years back.

    “It’s lucrative for artists,” he says.

    “Over the last 15 years or so, a huge burgeoning middle class has grown there that wants to spend its money on entertainment, and there’s very, very low taxation rates on artists fees, sometimes none at all, and artists can make money at several very large festivals.”

    However, none of that looks likely for many months, if not years.

    “Our thoughts are it’s going to be a long time,” he says. “You’ve got a postwar situation to deal with, even if it is over quickly, and the second part is that it would become a moral decision to play in Russia after this.”

    However, some artists are already making their intentions clear: On Friday, Oli Sykes, lead singer of ‘Bring Me the Horizon’ — who has eleven April dates in Russia, Belarus and even Ukraine still listed on their website — posted on Instagram: “My prayers are with Ukraine, it’s a very special country that I’ve visited/worked in many times, made lots of friends & has a special place in my heart. I can’t believe this is happening. Please be safe.”

  • David Lynch slams Vladimir Putin over Russian invasion of Ukraine

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me’ director David Lynch has condemned the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin following the Russian “invasion” of Ukraine and the subsequent devastation that’s unfolding, reports ‘Variety’.

    According to ‘Variety’, the director delivered a stern and emotionally charged message to Putin through his daily weather report on YouTube. Lynch may not have directed a full-length project since the 2017 limited series ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’ but he is connected to fans through his David Lynch Theater video project on YouTube.

    The filmmaker told Putin it’s inevitable that “death and destruction” will come for him because “what you sow you shall reap”. Reflecting upon human nature, he said in the video accessed by ‘Variety’, “Mr. Putin, we are as human beings charged as to how we treat our fellow man. And there is a law of nature, a hard and fast law for which there are no loopholes and no escaping it, and this law is what you sow you shall reap.”

    He then switched his tone to a more direct one as he further said in the video, “And right now Mr. Putin you are sowing death and destruction. It’s all on you. The Ukrainians didn’t attack your country. You went in and attacked their country. All this death and destruction is going to come back and visit you, and in this big picture we are involved in, there is an infinite amount of time, life after life after life, for you to reap what you are sowing.”

    He then goes on to give a word of advice to the Russian president, “My advice to you is save yourself, save the Ukrainians, save this world. Start getting along with your neighbours. Start building friendships. We are a world family. There is no room for this kind of absurdity anymore.”

    Urging Putin to cease the attack and military operations, he said, “Get with it. Stop this attack. Let’s work together so all the countries of this world can come up in peace and get along with each other. Let’s solve the problems we’ve got together. Let’s get real! Everyone.”

  • Berlin Film Festival calls for peace in Ukraine

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: The Berlin Film Festival has called for peace over the situation in Ukraine, which is currently in a state of military conflict after Russian forces launched operation on Thursday morning.

    “We — festival workers, artists, filmmakers — think fondly of our friends in Ukraine and we are by their side in a call for peace,” the festival said in a statement.

    “One week ago, the Berlin International Film Festival was celebrating a complicated yet successful edition. Filmmakers, artists and journalists from all over the world gathered in Berlin to enjoy a collective and joyful experience. The feeling of being together again, with no distinctions of nationality, religion, or culture, transported us in a way that film festivals can accomplish,” the statement added.

    “While these memories remain fresh, other images have broken into our lives, bringing a darker perspective. The world is on a verge of a huge crisis. As a showcase of the free world, the Berlinale has always put at its centre the notion of freedom and the will to bridge East and West.”

    The statement pointed out that the festival has, through its history, showcased films relating to Ukrainian history and culture.

    This included the 2022 selection, Maryna El Gorbach’s ‘Klondike’, set in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where fighting is taking place on the nearby Russian-Ukrainian border in 2014.

    The festival also showed ‘Terykony’ by Taras Tomenko, Oleg Sentsov’s “Numbers” in 2020, the films of Kira Muratova and the early short films of Myroslav Slaboshpytsky.

    “Films cannot change the society and the course of history, but they can help in changing the minds of people. Films are telling us that the world is already in a too precarious condition to add even more suffering and destruction,” the statement concluded.

  • Ukrainian director Stanislav Kapralov echoes a sense of hope and despair

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Ukrainian director Stanislav Kapralov, who most recently helmed the mystery thriller ‘Egregor’, premiered in 2021, was in the middle of pre-production for a new film — a Hollywood project with U.S. actors and a U.S. distributor lined up — when Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday.

    In an email interview with ‘Variety’, the director-screenwriter said: “My family and I are in Ukraine. It was not possible to leave, but we moved from Kiev to western Ukraine. My father and grandmother are still in Kyiv. They are hiding in basements from bombings — elderly people sitting in damp basements.”

    Kapralov sounded hopeful when he said: “Everyone believes in the Ukrainian army, and no one loses heart. The Ukrainian army is putting up a heroic effort and is inflicting heavy losses on the Russians. Everyone is united in their hatred for Russia. My grandmother lived during the occupation of Ukraine in World War II. All Ukrainians compare Russia with fascist Germany.”

    He was, however, critical of the international community’s reluctance to do more than just condemn the Russian invasion.

    Kapralov told ‘Variety’: “Ukraine is fighting for all of Europe to stop the ‘Hitler’ of the 21st century. But we get the feeling that we are fighting alone. NATO refused to close the airspace; Germany, Italy, and Hungary blocked a proposal to cut Russia off from SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), and Turkey refused to help in the Black Sea.”

    Ironically, Kapralov’s ongoing film project was set to be shot in Chernobyl, which was seized by Russian military forces on the first day of battle.

    “We made a decision to evacuate the project to Europe and shoot there,” Kapralov said. “I hope our plans come true. To do this, my team and I will need to travel to Europe. Preferably alive. We are all still currently in Ukraine,” he added.

    Kapralov, who is also a screenwriter and producer, has worked with some of Ukraine’s biggest names, including Ivanna Sakhno (‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ and ‘High Fidelity’).

  • 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.