Several students from Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka, and Assam have been evacuated by the government. The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since February 24 morning when the Russian military attacked the country. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had on Sunday said India has evacuated around 2,000 of its citizens from Ukraine and 1,000 of them have been brought back home on chartered flights from Hungary and Romania.
Eight students from Karnataka have sent a moving video in which they urged the Union government to rescue them from the war zone in Ukraine as they have run out of food and water. “We are badly stuck in Kharkiv city. Our situation is extremely critical. For the past two days, we have not eaten anything. We are having only bread and chocolates. There is no proper light, water and air in the area where we are stuck. We are drinking recycled water,” they said, reported PTI.
“When we were studying in college, the sound of an alarm used to wake us up. Now, we have not slept for days due to continuous roar of bombs and missiles. We are scared that the building in which we are holed up might get blown away any time. We are asked to come to the border of Romania or Poland. But we are not in a position to even come out of our bunker. Poland and Romania are at a distance of 1,500 km from the place where we are stuck,” they added.
“We are at a distance of 80 km from Belgrade airport. Now, this airport is under the clutches of Russia. The Indian government has to speak to Russian authorities and save us through Belgrade airport,” they further said in the video.
A total of 136 Rajasthani students have been evacuated with 41 of them reaching New Delhi on Monday, a state government official said. The Rajasthan state government has set up a 24-hour help desk at the IGIA to receive and facilitate the return of the Rajasthan migrants evacuated from Ukraine, the government statement said.
Meanwhile, three more students from Assam stranded in war-torn Ukraine arrived in New Delhi on Monday while four others have left for Budapest airport and will board an India-bound flight. A total of 13 of at least 124 estimated students from the state in Ukraine have so far arrived in India.
The three students — Deepshikha Das, Prayash Sharma, and Avnish Phukan- were pursuing an education in medicine there. Four more students — Alibhia Rajmedhi, Bastobika Das, Farmi Nashrin Sultana, and Karina Borah are expected to board an India-bound flight from Budapest airport on Monday night.
A total of 91 students from Haryana have been brought back to India. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a total of 1,396 Indians have so far been brought back from Ukraine in six flights under “Operation Ganga”. He also directed the deputy commissioners to immediately constitute teams of officers to contact the families of the 1,786 students from the state who are in Ukraine.
Khattar further directed them to give assurance to the families that the Centre and the Haryana government are taking all possible steps to bring back the students safely. He told the DCs to convey to the families that they need not pay heed to the negative social media posts being spread in this regard. The help desk set up by the Haryana government has so far received over 400 phone calls, 800-900 WhatsApp messages and 800 e-mails.
– with inputs from PTI
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