NEW DELHI, Feb 24: India on Thursday mounted a major diplomatic initiative to evacuate its nationals from Ukraine through its land border crossings after Russia launched a large-scale military assault on the eastern European nation triggering major global concerns and sanctions against Moscow by several Western powers.
Amid the deepening crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and “sensitised” him about concerns over the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine and that India attaches the highest priority to their safe exit and return home.
“The prime minister appealed for an immediate cessation of violence, and called for concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and dialogue,” an official statement said. It also said that Putin briefed the prime minister on the developments relating to Ukraine and Modi reiterated his long-standing conviction that the differences between Russia and NATO can only be resolved through “honest and sincere dialogue”.
With increasing concerns over the safety of around 16,000 Indians in Ukraine, Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) with a primary focus of evacuating the citizens as well as assessing the situation in Ukraine.
India is focusing on evacuating the Indians through Ukraine’s land borders with Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania as the Ukrainian government closed the country’s airspace following the Russian military offensive that has killed dozens of people.
At a media briefing, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the prime minister conveyed at the CCS meeting that the topmost priority of the government is the safety and security of Indian nationals including students and their evacuation from Ukraine.
“I want to assure all Indian citizens including students in Ukraine and their family members that we will take all possible steps to bring you back safe and sound,” he said.
The foreign secretary said there were around 20,000 Indians in Ukraine and of them, nearly 4,000 have returned to India in the last few days.
Shringla said the government has asked Indian ambassadors in countries neighbouring Ukraine such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary to send teams from their missions to border areas with Ukraine to facilitate the exit of Indians so that they can be evacuated to India.
The Indian embassy in Poland said a camp office is being set up at Krakowiec on the Polish-Ukrainian border that will facilitate transit through Poland to India. A similar office is also being set up in Lviv in Ukraine. The Indian embassy in Hungary said it sent a team to the border post of Zohanyi to coordinate and provide assistance to facilitate the exit of Indians from Ukraine.
Shringla said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be speaking to his counterparts from Poland Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine on the crisis. Jaishankar is also expected to speak to the Ukrainian foreign minister.
The foreign secretary said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is in touch with the Ministry of Defence to facilitate airlifting of Indians if required. (PTI)
