Amidst continuing tension in Ukraine, India on Sunday asked all its citizens there, including students to leave the country immediately. This was the second advisory in the last five days by the Indian Embassy in Kyiv. The families of Indian Embassy officials, too, were ordered to return to India immediately in view of the growing danger..
In the latest caution, the Embassy, which has set up a 24X7 control centre there to help its citizens, urged Indian nationals and students to temporarily leave the country as tensions escalate.
"In view of continued tensions in Ukraine, all Indian nationals whose stay is not deemed essential and all Indian students are advised to leave Ukraine temporarily. Indian students are advised to also get in touch with respective student contractors for updates on charter flights," the advisory read.
Indian nationals were also urged to avail of the commercial and charter flights for orderly and timely departure from there. The advisory on February 15 had asked the students to leave the country as soon as possible.
There are more than 20,000 Indian students studying in various universities there. Since tension mounted with Russia, the air fares shot up. However, till now there was no plan to evacuate Indians from Ukraine.
However, till now there was no plan to evacuate Indians from Ukraine.
Air India, which was recently sold to Tata group by the Government, will fly three special aircraft to Ukraine on February 22, 24 and 26. The flights will operate to and from Boryspil International Airport, Ukraine.
India has all along reiterated its stand of a "quiet and constructive diplomacy" to resolve the crisis and said so in the United Security Council last week. Russia appreciated the Indian viewpoint and said in a tweet, "We welcome #India's balanced, principled and independent approach."
Desperate diplomatic efforts were now on to prevent the Russian invasion according to some Western countries and the United States of America. However, Ukraine has maintained there is reason to panic and Russia has also maintained it will not take any armed action.
A telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Ukraine got underway on Sunday, according to agency reports.
Russia, according to Western leaders, has more than 150,000 troops along with missile batteries and warships massed around Ukraine, poised to strike.
Insisting that it has no intention to attack Ukraine, Russia, as per some reports, has done little to defuse tension. Its state media reportedly accused Kyiv of plotting an assault on rebel-held, pro-Russia enclaves in eastern Ukraine in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has charged Russia of preparing to plunge Europe into its worst conflict since World War II. Warning that any invasion of Ukraine would freeze Moscow out of global finance, he said Russian invasion plans would see its troops not just enter Ukraine from the rebel-held east, but from Belarus to the north and encircle the capital Kyiv.
The G7 Foreign Ministers have also expressed their grave concern about Russia's "threatening" military build-up around Ukraine, in "illegally annexed" Crimea and in Belarus and warned Moscow of 'massive consequences" upon any further aggression against Ukraine.
The G7 combine includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America along with the High Representative of the European Union.