All Indian Nationals Have Left Kyiv: Govt After PM Modi-Led High-Level Meet On Ukraine Crisis
The meeting comes hours after an Indian student, Naveen, who hailed from Karnataka, was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting with concerned officials in view of the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, which has been jolted by the enormous military advance from Russia since last six days.
This is the fourth such meeting held by the PM in the last two days.
The meeting comes hours after an Indian student, Naveen, who hailed from Karnataka, was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv. Before the meeting, PM Modi spoke to the father of the killed student and offered condolences.
#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a high-level meeting on #UkraineRussiaCrisis pic.twitter.com/K1kP3YhjFs
— ANI (@ANI) March 1, 2022
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
Key Points From PM Modi's Meet
"The meeting began with an expression of deep regret and condolences on the tragic death of Naveen Shekharappa, an Indian student who was studying at Kharkiv National Medical University. The PM conveyed his deep anguish on the loss of the life of an Indian national," Shringla said after the meeting.
Shringla also informed that Oover the next 3 days, 26 flights have been scheduled to bring out Indian citizens apart from Bucharest and Budapest. Airports in Poland and Slovak Republic will also be used, he said.
"All of our nationals have left Kyiv. The information with us is that we have no more nationals left in Kyiv, nobody has contacted us from Kyiv since. All our inquiries reveal that each and every one of our nationals has come out of Kyiv," the Foreign Secretary said.
He also pointed out that of the remaining 40 per cent, roughly half remain in conflict zone in Kharkiv, Sumy area and the other half have either reached the western borders of Ukraine or are heading towards the western part of Ukraine - they are generally out of conflict areas.
"We had an estimated 20,000 Indian students in Ukraine at the time that we issued our first advisory. From that number approximately 12,000 have since left Ukraine, which is 60% of the total number of our citizens in Ukraine," Shringla told reporters.
India's Evacuation Programme
As the current Russia Ukraine conflict is most likely to escalate further in the days to come, the government has stepped up its evacuation programme, under Operation Ganga, to bring home thousands of Indians stranded in Ukraine.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister reportedly reviewed the ongoing efforts under Operation Ganga for the return of Indians from Ukraine amid military operations by Russia.
Currently, four Union ministers travelling to Ukraine’s neighbouring countries as India's special envoys to coordinate the operation to evacuate Indians stuck in the war-torn region.
Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Gen VK Singh (Retd) flew to Budapest and Warsaw, respectively, to oversee the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju left for Slovakia to bring back Indian citizens.
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