Russia-Ukraine crisis: 4 union ministers assigned to monitor evacuation, India promises aid to border areas

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the entire government machinery was working round the clock to ensure all Indians in Ukraine are safe and secure as he deputed four Union ministers to countries bordering the war-hit nation as special envoys to oversee the rescue efforts and more evacuation flights were deployed.

India will also help people from neighbouring and developing countries who are stranded in the eastern European nation and the first consignment of relief supplies to Ukraine to deal with the humanitarian situation on its borders would be sent on Tuesday.

The prime minister made the remarks at a high-level meeting, his second of the day, that was held to review the ongoing efforts under “Operation Ganga” to bring back the Indians stranded in Ukraine, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Spokesperson in the MEA Arindam Bagchi said around 8,000 Indians left Ukraine since the first advisory was issued around a fortnight back and a total of 1,396 Indians were brought back home in six flights after the evacuation mission was launched on Saturday.

Two of these Air India flights from Romanian capital Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest landed in Delhi on Monday with 489 Indian nationals. Other private carriers such as SpiceJet, IndiGo and Air India Express have also sent their planes to the two cities for evacuation of Indians as the Ukraine airspace is closed for civilian aircraft. MEA officials told a parliamentary panel they are planning 13 other flights in the next 2-3 days and subsequently nine flights a day, according to sources

As fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces raged on despite the two sides holding talks for the first time since the outbreak of hostilities, around 14,000 Indians, including a large number of students, were still stranded in Ukraine and have been narrating through the media and on phone their ordeal. While some are unable to move to western areas, which are less affected, others have reached borders but were unable to cross and were facing a shortage of food and water.

The Indian embassy in Ukraine advised all Indian students stranded in Kyiv to reach the railway station in the Ukrainian capital for their onward journey to the western parts of the war-torn country. However, an Indian student who managed to reach the Kyiv train station said Ukrainian guards were not allowing students to board trains and were also beating up people.

“It’s getting difficult for us to stay here,” Ansh Pandita told PTI as scores of Indian students, including women, sat huddled together at the teeming Vokzal railway station in Kyiv, holding a large tricolour aloft so they could be recognised in the crowd and also so no one from the group gets lost. Officials said the situation on the Polish border remained problematic as a large number of people had gathered there in order to cross the border.

At a media briefing, the MEA spokesperson said the government has decided to send Union Minister Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju will and Gen (retd) V K Singh as the prime minister’s special envoys to oversee the evacuation of Indians. He said Puri will go to Hungary, Scindia will oversee the evacuation process in Romania and Moldova, Rijiju will travel to Slovakia and Gen (retd) V K Singh is leaving for Poland.

“The special envoys will be travelling to these countries to basically coordinate and oversee the evacuation process on the ground,” Bagchi said, adding they may also go close the places where the evacuation is happening if the situation permits. Bagchi said India managed to accelerate the evacuation process in the last 24 hours as a new border crossing has been opened through Moldova for taking the Indians to Romania and there was an improvement in the movement of people through the Polis transit point. He said India is encouraging its citizens, particularly students, to move towards Western Ukraine and emphasised that they should not reach the border directly.

Amid concerns over the safety of Indians in Ukraine, the country’s envoy Igor Polikha said that his government is helping the stranded Indians and extending assistance in their evacuation notwithstanding the “very difficult” ground situation. Specifically asked about the safety of Indians, he said that assurance can only be given by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also said that Ukraine was looking for humanitarian assistance from India. Polikha also rubbished the suggestion that Ukrainian authorities were discriminating against Indian citizens after India abstained from a UN Security Council resolution deploring the Russian military attack on the country.

In the briefing, Bagchi said India is sending humanitarian assistance to Ukraine including medicines. Bagchi said the “situation on the ground in terms of evacuation continues to be “complex and fluid” but India has managed to accelerate the evacuation process in the last 24 hours”. “You have seen media reports. Some of them are concerning. Nevertheless, we have been able to accelerate our evacuation process clearly over the last 24 hours,” he said.

The MEA spokesperson also urged the Indian students not to panic. “Our estimate is that over 8,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since we issued the initial advisories. It’s not since the conflict began, but since we issued the initial advisories,” he emphasised. With a large number of Indians stuck at the Polish border point along with several thousand other nationalities, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his counterpart from Poland Zbigniew Rau

“Discussed the Ukraine developments with RauZbigniew of Poland. Appreciate Poland’s facilitation of the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine. His words of support in that regard are very welcome,” he tweeted. Bagchi said India’s focus has been on evacuating its nationals through the land border crossings, noting that there has been some improvement in the movement of people into Poland through the situation in the Polish border is still difficult.

Bagchi said flights are not a constraint. “We will add more flights as needed. We are continually augmenting the number of MEA teams in border crossing points. We are also augmenting a number of officials in the nearby countries,” he said. India on Friday managed to set up camp offices in Lviv and Chernivtsi towns in western Ukraine to facilitate the transit of Indians to Hungary, Romania and Poland.

India also positioned teams of officials at Zahony border post in Hungary, Krakowiec as well as Shehyni-Medyka land border points in Poland, Vysne Nemecke in the Slovak Republic and Suceava transit point in Romania to coordinate the exit of Indian nationals from Ukraine. India is using the land routes to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack.