Lockdown lifted in Kyiv, board trains to borders: Indian embassy tells students

The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Monday (February 28) informed students stranded in Kyiv that the curfew has been lifted in the capital, and advised them to reach the railway station for their onward journey to the western parts of the country for evacuation.

“Weekend curfew lifted in Kyiv. All students are advised to make their way to the railway station for onward journey to the western parts. Ukraine Railways is putting special trains for evacuations,” the embassy tweeted.

On Monday, the sixth evacuation flight carrying 240 Indians under Operation Ganga left for Delhi from Budapest.

“Sixth #OperationGanga flight from Budapest. To Delhi with 240 Indian nationals,” tweeted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Sunday said the main concern for India is ensuring the safety of its nationals stuck in areas witnessing intense fighting including in Kyiv that has around 2,000 Indians. India has already evacuated over 2,000 of its citizens from Ukraine and more than 1,000 of them have been brought back home on chartered flights from Hungary and Romania.

Also read: Evacuation on: 4 ministers to visit Ukraine’s neighboring countries

The areas in the east of Ukraine including Kharkiv and Sumy are the conflict zones and India has been focusing on taking out its citizens from these areas to the country’s western region for their subsequent evacuation through border crossings to Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia.

“The Ministry of External Affairs, under the direct supervision of the External Affairs Minister, and the overall guidance of the prime minister is doing everything possible to make sure that the safety, security and the interests of our citizens in Ukraine are given the highest priority,” Shringla said.

On Friday, India had up camp offices in Lviv and Chernivtsi towns in western Ukraine to facilitate the transit of Indians to Hungary, Romania and Poland. India also positioned teams of officials at Zahony border post in Hungary, Krakowiec as well as Shehyni-Medyka land border points in Poland, Vysne Nemecke in the Slovak Republic and Suceava transit point in Romania to coordinate the exit of Indian nationals from Ukraine.

India is banking on land routes via Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovak Republic to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack.

(With inputs from agencies)