New Delhi: Considering the rising worries of the safety of around 16,000 Indians in Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Thursday with a primary focus on evacuating citizens as well as assessing the situation in Ukraine.
While talking to the media, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla apprised that PM Modi at the CCS meeting conveyed that the topmost priority of the government is the safety and security of Indian nationals including students and their evacuation from Ukraine.
"I want to assure all Indian citizens including students in Ukraine and their family members that we will take all possible steps to bring you back safe and sound," he said.
Around 20,000 Indians are in Ukraine and of them, nearly 4,000 have returned to India in the last few days, informed Shringla.
Meanwhile, in a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the deepening crises, Prime Minister Narendra Modi "sensitised" him about concerns over the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine and that India attaches the highest priority to their safe exit and return home.
"The prime minister 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," as an official statement stated.
India has started a major diplomatic initiative to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine after Russia launched large-scale military operations on the eastern European nation.
Indian ambassadors in countries neighbouring Ukraine such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary have been asked to send teams from their missions to border areas with Ukraine to facilitate the evacuation of Indians.
In order to facilitate transit through Poland to India, the Indian embassy in Poland said a camp office is being set up at Krakowiec on the Polish-Ukrainian border. A similar office is also being set up in Lviv in Ukraine.
India is focusing on evacuating the Indians through Ukraine's land borders with Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania as the Ukrainian government closed the country's airspace following the Russian military offensive that has killed dozens of people.
Moreover, external affairs minister S Jaishankar will also connect with his counterparts from Poland Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Ukraine on the crisis.
Jaishankar is also expected to speak to the Ukrainian foreign minister. In fact, the foreign secretary informed that the ministry of external affairs (MEA) is in touch with the ministry of defence to facilitate airlifting of Indians if required.
(With PTI Inputs)