Russian-Ukraine War: 1,000 Indians still stranded in Ukraine, says MEA

New Delhi/Kyiv, March 4

Some 1000 Indians are still stuck in Ukraine’s war zones, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday as India pushes to get Indians stuck in the middle of the Russia-Ukraine war out of conflict areas.

India is primarily focusing on evacuating its nationals from the conflict zones of Kharkiv and Sumy in eastern Ukraine, the MEA said.

Some 300 Indians are stranded in Kharkiv, a city that has come under intense Russian shelling, and 700 are in Sumy.

At a media briefing, he said a local ceasefire would help in the evacuation of the Indians and that New Delhi is urging both the Russian and Ukrainian sides to find ways for their safe passage from the conflict zones.

“Our primary focus is to get Indian students out of conflict zones in eastern Ukraine,” he said.

Bagchi said around 20,000 Indians have left Ukraine’s borders since India issued its first travel advisories in mid-February.

He said 15 flights landed in India as part of the evacuation mission during last 24 hours, bringing back more than 3,000 nationals.

The spokesperson said 16 flights are scheduled for the next 24 hours.

Over 10,300 Indians brought back in 48 flights under ‘Operation Ganga’ so far, he added.

The development comes on a day when escalated shelling in Ukraine led to a fire at Europe’s largest nuclear power station in Ukraine, causing fears of radiation in the country that has in the past been victim to one of the world’s largest nuclear disasters.

“We demand that they stop the heavy weapons fire,” Andriy Tuz, spokesperson for Zaporizhzhia plant in Enerhodar, said in a video posted on Telegram. “There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.” The plant accounts for about one quarter of Ukraine’s power generation.

Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the Zaporizhzhia plant and had set fire to one of the facility’s six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said.