Russia-Ukraine crisis: All Indians have left Kyiv, says foreign secretary

All Indians have left Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, while nearly 60 per cent have left the war-torn country, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, told the media.

“All of our nationals have left Kyiv,” he said. “The information with us is that we have no more nationals left in Kyiv, nobody has contacted us from there since.”

Of the remaining, about half are in the conflict zone in Kharkiv, while the rest have reached or are en route to the western parts of Ukraine, which are considered safe.

“At least 1,400 Indians in Zaporizhzhia have moved to the western border and 400 students have moved to Moldova,” he revealed.

He added that India has sought “urgent safe passage” of its nationals in Kharkiv and other conflict zones and has conveyed this to Russian and Ukrainian envoys.

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“We remain very concerned over the situation in Kharkiv, Sumy and other conflict zones,” noted Shringla. “Over the next three days, 26 flights have been scheduled to bring back Indian citizens.”

A C-17 IAF aircraft is expected to fly out at 4am on Wednesday to Romania to repatriate Indians. Over the next three days, India will be operating 26 flights to evacuate its citizens from Romania, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic.

• Europe