Ukraine Crisis: MEA Establishes 4 Locations In Hungary, Slovak Republic, Romania, Poland To Evacuate Indians

Air India is planning to operate two flights to Romanian capital Bucharest and one to Budapest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine

A group of around 40 Indian medical students of Daynlo Halytsky Medical University, Lviv walk towards the Ukraine-Poland border for evacuation | ANI

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs has identified four locations in Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic and Romania to evacuate Indians from Ukraine, said Sameer Sharma, Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh. 

"MEA has established four locations in Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic and Romania for evacuation of Indian citizens. Roughly 1000 people from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are in Ukraine. We are communicating with MEA," the Chief Secretary said. 

The development comes as India firms up its plans to evacuate its nationals stranded in Ukraine due to a Russian military offensive. On Friday, Russian forces moved deep into Ukraine on the second day of the invasion.

Air India is planning to operate two flights to Romanian capital Bucharest and one to Budapest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine. The cost of the evacuation will be completely borne by the government, PTI reported quoting official sources. 

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, PTI quoted government officials as saying.

The Indian Embassy in Warsaw said in an advisory on Friday that Indian nationals arriving at the Ukraine-Poland border through public transport should go to the Shehyni-Medyka border crossing.

READ HERE: Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Indian Embassy Issues Fresh Advisory For People Crossing Into Poland

The Indian Embassy has advised nationals living in Ukraine, especially the students living closest to the border checkpoints with Romania and Hungary, to depart first in an organised manner in coordination with teams from Ministry of External Affairs 

As the Russian military operation in Ukraine entered the second day, it claimed to have taken control of a strategic airport just outside Kyiv, cutting it off from the west. Earlier on Friday, explosions and sounds of gunfire echoed in the Ukrainian capital.