Russia-Ukraine War: PM Modi dials Putin, calls for safe passage for Indian students

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, March 2

Russia has said its military was doing everything possible to ensure the safe evacuation of Indian students from the war zone and their return to homeland. The assurance came from Russian President Valdimir Putin during a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday evening.

Editorial: Death of a student

A readout from the Kremlin said its military would escort the students to safe zones from where they could be sent to India either by the Russian Air Force transporters or by Indian Air Force C-17 planes. “Russian armed forces are ready to take all necessary measures for the safe evacuation of the Indian citizens,” reiterated the readout.

Earlier in the day, India advised all its nationals to “urgently leave” Kharkiv even as Moscow intensified bombardment of urban areas in Ukraine. Amid the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that World War-III, should it break out, would be “nuclear and devastating”. “The military operation in Ukraine, including Kyiv, is aimed at disarming Ukraine. Russia will not let Ukraine obtain nuclear weapons,” Lavrov said in an interview while the US ratcheted up sanctions by banning Russian flights from entering its airspace. As Russia stepped up rocket attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv and dozens of Ukrainians reportedly killed, India has been coordinating with it to ensure safe passage for about 4,000 Indian students trapped in the war zones. An Indian team of diplomats from Kyiv is also trying to make its way to eastern Ukraine. “We have issued this advisory based on inputs from Russia,” emphasised MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi even as the Russian Ambassador-designate for India Denis Alipov said that Moscow was equally concerned about the safety of Indians in Kharkiv and Sumy, and was working “intensely” to create a humanitarian corridor for their safe passage.

An Indian student was killed in apparent Russian shelling in Kharkiv while students trapped in the fighting in cities close to the Russian border in eastern Ukraine have made desperate appeals for help and suggested that Moscow should facilitate their evacuation.

While assuring that a mechanism was in place for issuing emergency certificates for those who have lost their passports, the MEA spokesperson appealed to Indians to first contact the Indian coordinating teams rather than try to directly cross Ukraine’s borders with Romania, Poland, Hungary, the Slovak Republic and Moldova. The Indian embassy in Warsaw asked Indians to avoid the Shehyni-Medyka border and approach the Budomierz checkpoint for a relatively quick entry into Poland.

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Russia has alleged that Ukrainian authorities are “forcibly keeping” Indian students in Kharkiv. Ukrainian envoy to India Igor Polikha strongly rubbished the allegations. PTI

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