Nearly 16,000 Indians Stranded In Ukraine, Evacuation Roadways Have Been Mapped Out: Govt

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that the safety of Indians is the priority. Efforts are on to evacuate the people.

New Delhi: As the task of getting Indian nationals from Ukraine is set to be challenging in view of the closure of Kyiv airport, the Foreign Secretary of India Harsh V Shringla on Thursday has informed that to evacuate Indian nationals from Kyiv roadways have been mapped out.

"We will handle the evacuation with utmost precaution. Roadways have been mapped out to evacuate Indian nationals from Kyiv and reach safer places," said Shringla as quoted by ANI. 

While clarifying India's stand on the tension, Shringla said, "At the CCS meeting, PM Modi has stated that the topmost priority of the government is the safety and security of Indian nationals including students in Ukraine".

He also informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly amid growing tensions in Ukraine after Russian troops waged war.

"The Prime Minister is scheduled to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly," said Shringla as quoted by news agency ANI.

"It would be difficult to guess in advance the nature of the conversation between Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The conversations will be around the situation in Ukraine today," Shringla said.

According to Shringla's statement, 4000 Indian nationals have already left Ukraine in the past few days.

"4000 Indian nationals have already left Ukraine in the past few days. The MEA control room in Delhi has got 980 calls and 850 emails," he said.

The Foreign Secretary said that our embassy in Ukraine is still working. We are in close contact with Universities, Student Contractors to provide security to our students.

"Our Embassy in Ukraine continues to be functional. A number of advisories have been issued by embassies on the situation as it evolves. We're consulting universities, student contractors in the process of providing welfare and safety of our students," he said as quoted by ANI.

"A number of steps have been taken to deal with the emerging situation in Ukraine. We started the registration of Indian nationals in Ukraine about a month ago. Based on online registration, we found that 20,000 Indian nationals were there," he added.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has activated the team in the border area of ​​Ukraine. So that Indians can get in touch with them.