New Delhi: After a group of students in the Ukrainian city of Sumy said that they would make for the border at their own risk, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson on Saturday said the government has spoken to them and the students have returned back to their hostel.At a media briefing, Arindam Bagchi said that India’s main focus is on the evacuation of around 700 Indian students stranded in the eastern city, which has been witnessing bombings and airstrikes. India hopes to evacuate its citizens from Kharkiv and Pisochyn in the next few hours, he said.“Our main focus is now on evacuating Indian students from Sumy. We are exploring multiple options for their evacuation,” he said.According to news agency ANI, Bagchi said that 298 students have been evacuated from Pisochyn. “We will now be looking at how many are still in Ukraine. The embassy will contact those who happen to be there but haven’t registered… In nearby Pisochyn…we have moved (evacuated) 298 students, hoping to complete it by today,” he said.Bagchi also reiterated India’s call to Russia and Ukraine to go for a local ceasefire so that the Indians can be taken out of the conflict zones.“Our challenge in the evacuation of the Indians from Sumy is ongoing shelling and violence and lack of transportation,” Bagchi said.In tweets before the briefing, the MEA spokesperson had said that India has “strongly pressed Russian and Ukrainian governments through multiple channels for an immediate ceasefire to create a safe corridor” for Indian students. He asked the students to “take safety precautions, stay inside shelters and avoid unnecessary risks”.Have advised our students to take safety precautions, stay inside shelters and avoid unnecessary risks.Ministry and our Embassies are in regular touch with the students.— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) March 5, 2022On the overall evacuation mission, he said over 13,300 people have been brought back home in 63 flights.The spokesperson said 13 flights are scheduled for the next 24 hours to bring back Indians under ‘Operation Ganga’, the evacuation mission launched following a Russian military offensive in Ukraine.As The Wire has reported, students in Sumy are facing a dire situation. Water and other resources are running out, they said in videos posted on social media. There has been no let up in bombs and explosions, the students said.Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Embassy in India has claimed that Russia is violating agreements of ceasefire, continuing to launch missile and bomb strikes on Mariupol, Volnovakha and other Ukrainian cities.“The ongoing shelling makes it impossible to open humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of civilians and the delivery of medicines and food,” it said.It also denied the Russian Ministry of Defence’s allegation that Ukrainian authorities are hindering the departure of residents of the cities under siege.(With PTI inputs)
