Govt asks stranded citizens to stay put indoors; at UNSC, Russia assures safe passage for Indians
As the situation worsened in Ukraine, India on Saturday advised its citizens to take all precautions and remain indoors in cities like Kharkiv and Sumy. New Delhi also appealed to both the warring nations to respect ceasefire to enable a safe evacuation corridor for its citizens.
Russia in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) said it will ensure the safety and security of all Indians and other foreign nationals. The Russian Embassy in India said, “Today, on March 5, from 10 am Moscow time, Russian side declared a regime of silence and opened humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave Mariupol and Volnovakha. Humanitarian corridors and exit routes have been coordinated with the Ukrainian side.”
Airing India’s anxiety, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “We are deeply concerned about Indian students in Sumy, Ukraine. We have strongly pressed Russian and Ukrainian Governments through multiple channels for an immediate ceasefire to create a safe corridor for our students.” He said the Government has advised Indian students to take safety precautions, stay inside shelters and avoid unnecessary risks. The Ministry and our Embassies are in regular touch with the students, he said.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine said it had arranged buses to evacuate 298 Indians from Pisochyn, in Kharkiv. This city in the east, along with another town Sumy, has borne the brunt of the Russian military offensive.
Giving the update, Bagchi said five buses are now in Kharkiv to bring out all the Indian citizens there. Each bus can accommodate 60 to70 people.
He said nearly all citizens from Kharkiv will be brought out by late Saturday.
As regards the other badly hit city of Sumy, he said the first priority is to ensure a safe route to bring out the students in buses as the rail line is disrupted due to shelling. Bagchi also said shelling is on in the north-eastern town, which is posing a challenge for the Indian authorities to plan an evacuation.
From the point of evacuation, the Russian border is close to both cities. India in the last few days is trying to have a safe corridor to bring out its citizens from these two cities into Russia. While Sumy has about 900 Indians, Kharkiv has more than 300 as of now.
Russia has informed the UNSC that its buses are ready at crossing points to go to the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy to evacuate the stranded foreign nationals.
The 15-nation Council held an emergency session on Friday, called by Albania, France, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe.
During the meeting, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the Russian military is doing everything to ensure the peaceful evacuation of foreign nationals stranded in Ukraine.
He alleged that Ukraine nationalists were keeping over 3,700 Indian citizens by force in Kharkiv and Sumy cities of eastern Ukraine.
“Terrorists do not let civilians leave cities. This impacts not only Ukrainians but foreigners as well. The number of foreign citizens whom Ukrainian nationals are keeping by force is shocking: Kharkiv 3,189 nationals of India, up to 2,700 nationals of Vietnam, 202 nationals of China; Sumy 576 nationals of India, 101 nationals of Ghana, 121 nationals of China,” Nebenzia told the Council.
In the Belgorod region of Russia, 130 comfortable buses have been waiting (and standing ready) since 6.00 am today at the crossing points Nekhoteevka’ and Sudja’ ready to go to Kharkiv and Sumy to evacuate the Indian students and other foreign nationals, he said.
The Russian envoy said the checkpoints are equipped to provide temporary accommodation, space for rest, and hot food. There are also mobile medical stations with a stock of medications.
“Everyone evacuated will then be taken to Belgorod, and from there transported to their homeland by air,” he said.
In New Delhi, responding to reports of Indian students being held hostage in Ukraine, Bagchi had said on Friday India has not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding Indian students.
Meanwhile, during the UNSC meeting, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador T S Tirumurti, said while the UN Security Council discusses the nuclear dimension of an unfolding conflict it must acknowledge that there is a pressing humanitarian crisis confronting us in Ukraine, where safety and security of innocent civilians including several thousand Indian nationals, in particular, students are at stake.
Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the Russian envoy Nebenzia to make an appeal to the armed forces (of Russia) to ensure a safe corridor to allow foreign students to leave the areas of concern.
Nebenzia said it is not Russian troops that pose a threat to the people of Ukraine, but Ukrainian nationalists. They keep the population of some big cities as hostages, they carry out acts of sabotage and provocations and then afterward they attempt to blame Russia for that, he said. Nebenzia accused Western nations of giving protection and patronage to radicals and extremists in Ukraine.
In an apparent reference to those nations in the Council that abstained or did not vote against UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine Ambassador Kyslytsya said,” Shamefully, there are a handful of those around us or among us rather, who do nothing. Act now or it might be too late not only for Ukraine but for all of you.
India abstained twice in the UN Security Council on resolutions on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.