Ukraine crisis: India asks students to leave Kharkiv as fighting rages on

Spread the love

[ad_1]

India on Wednesday urged all its nationals in the besieged city of Kharkiv to leave for safer areas nearby within five hours amid scenes of chaos following intense bombardment and a Russian airborne assault on Ukraine’s second largest city.

Indian nationals in Kharkiv, where medical student Naveen Shekharappa Gyandagoudar was killed in a Russian attack on Tuesday, were asked to move out of the city immediately for their safety in “light of the deteriorating situation”, according to an urgent advisory issued by the Indian embassy.

The Indians were told to move, if necessary on foot, to the safer areas of Pisochyn, Babai and Bezlyudivka, all located between 11 and 16 km from Kharkiv. “Proceed immediately. Under all circumstances Indians must reach these settlements by 1800 hrs (Ukrainian time) today,” the advisory said, giving the Indians a window of less than five hours to reach the designated places.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a media briefing that the embassy’s advisory was based on inputs from the Russian side.

“The advisory…on the need for our nationals to leave Kharkiv immediately is on the basis of information received from Russia. We would urge all our nationals to leave Kharkiv immediately to the safe zones or further westwards, using any means available, including on foot, and keeping safety in mind,” he said.

It is learnt that the Russian side had informed the Indian side about the need to get all Indians out of Kharkiv within hours ahead of a planned assault on the city. Since Sunday, India has urged both Ukraine and Russia to ensure safe passage for the thousands of Indians in Kharkiv, Sumy and other nearby cities.

Bagchi said the Indian side hadn’t “chosen these locations [or] the time” mentioned in the advisory, which was based completely on Russian inputs. “I can’t say anything beyond this,” he added.

He acknowledged that Indians were facing “some problems” in getting out of conflict zones. “People are reporting difficulties at some places, including violence continuing,” he said.

Some Indians students on the ground said they were finding it difficult to comply with the advisory. Clifford Ben Samuel, 21, a fourth-year aviation student from Chennai studying in Kharkiv, said he had waited since early Wednesday morning at the train station. While three trains had gone by, Indians were not allowed into them.

“They are not letting us get on. They are only allowing Ukrainian citizens to get on. We don’t know what to do,” he said. “There are no taxis or buses and we just have these trains to take us to the western border. The government says we should get out but they are not telling us how. No one is taking our calls at the embassy either.”

Samuel, a friend of Gyandagoudar, was traumatised by his friend’s death and the incessant missile strikes. He said he was feeling helpless. “It’s a desperate situation here and more than 200 of us are just waiting to get on a train,” he said.

The Ukrainian military said clashes had erupted after Russian paratroopers landed in Kharkiv on Wednesday, the seventh day of the invasion. “Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv…and attacked a local hospital,” the military said in a statement on Telegram.

There were reports of numerous explosions, and Ukrainian authorities said the central parts of Kharkiv were being subjected to “massive shelling and bombing” and administrative buildings collapsed after being hit by missiles. Ten people were killed and 35 more injured when a concert hall and offices were targeted in Kharkiv’s Freedom Square on Tuesday.

“There is nowhere in Kharkiv where shells have not yet struck,” said Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister.

Russia’s ambassador-designate in New Delhi, Denis Alipov, told reporters on Wednesday his country is working on creating “humanitarian corridors” so that Indian nationals in conflict zones can be pulled out to Russian territory.

The Indian side has deployed a team from the embassy in Moscow in the Russian city of Belgorod, located some 75 km across the border from Kharkiv, and begun working on transport and logistics for a possible evacuation on this route. However, the team has been unable to make headway because of the intense fighting across eastern Ukraine, people familiar with the development said.

[ad_2]

Source link

Tags:

21 thoughts on “Ukraine crisis: India asks students to leave Kharkiv as fighting rages on

  1. Hello to all, how is everything, I think every one is getting more from this site, and your views are pleasant for new viewers.

  2. Right now it looks like Drupal is the best blogging platform available right now.
    (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?

  3. I read this post fully regarding the resemblance of most up-to-date and preceding technologies, it’s remarkable
    article.

  4. Hi, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just
    curious if you get a lot of spam remarks? If so how do
    you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise?

    I get so much lately it’s driving me crazy so any help is very much appreciated.

  5. I’m impressed, I must say. Seldom do I come across a
    blog that’s equally educative and engaging, and let me tell
    you, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is
    something that too few folks are speaking intelligently about.
    Now i’m very happy that I found this in my search for something concerning
    this.

  6. Wow, wonderful weblog structure! How long have you been running a blog for?

    you make blogging look easy. The total look of
    your website is excellent, as neatly as the content!

  7. hey there and thank you for your information –
    I have certainly picked up anything new from right here.

    I did however expertise several technical points using this website,
    as I experienced to reload the web site lots of times previous to I could get it
    to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK?

    Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage
    your high-quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.

    Well I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out for much more of your respective
    fascinating content. Make sure you update this again soon.

  8. If you are going for most excellent contents like myself, just go to see
    this web page all the time as it offers quality contents, thanks

  9. Hi I am so excited I found your website, I really found you by mistake, while
    I was searching on Google for something else,
    Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a marvelous post and a all round thrilling blog (I also
    love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the minute but I
    have saved it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much
    more, Please do keep up the superb jo.

  10. My brother suggested I might like this blog. He was entirely right.

    This post actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had
    spent for this info! Thanks!

  11. Greetings! This is my first visit to your blog!

    We are a group of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same
    niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a marvellous job!

  12. Your style is unique compared to other folks I have read stuff from.
    Thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess
    I’ll just book mark this blog.

  13. Hi there everyone, it’s my first visit at this web page, and post
    is truly fruitful in support of me, keep up posting such articles.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *