 "Ukraine")
India on Thursday said it was primarily focusing on the evacuation of its nationals from the besieged city of Kharkiv and other conflict zones in eastern Ukraine amid increasing Russian military offensive in the region.
At a media briefing, Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said around 1,000 Indians reached Pisochyn from Kharkiv following the urgent advisory issued by the Indian embassy in Ukraine on Wednesday.
"We estimate that a few hundred people still remain in Kharkiv despite our advisory," Bagchi said, adding that "unfortunately" there has been a fresh outbreak of violence in the city on Thursday.
The spokesperson said India has been in constant touch with Russia and Ukraine to ensure a safe passage of the stranded Indians from the conflict zones in eastern Ukraine.
Bagchi said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla spoke to the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister late last night and sought cooperation in the safe evacuation of the stranded Indians from the conflict zones in eastern Ukraine including their exit from Kharkiv by trains.
"We are closely following developments in Kharkiv, Sumy and other cities in eastern Ukraine. As you know, yesterday, we issued an advisory for all Indians to leave the city (Kharkiv) by 6 pm local time. Pursuant to this a large number of students left and are currently in the nearby city of Pisochyn," he said.
"We estimate this number to be 1,000 people there. We are currently looking at the transportation option to move them to western Ukraine or southern Ukraine...," he said.
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In an urgent advisory, the Indian embassy in Ukraine on Wednesday asked the Indians to reach the Ukrainian towns of Pisochyn (11 km), Babai (12 km) and Bezlyudivka (16 km) by 6 pm local time (9:30 pm IST) even on foot.
Bagchi said some Indians were able to leave the city on the train on Wednesday and that there was no information on Indians reaching Babai and Bezlyudivka.
"We understand that trains are running from there and people who could not walk to Pisocyn actually took the trains," he said.
Bagchi said leaving Kharkiv will be the best option.
"Unfortunately there has been a fresh outbreak of violence in Kharkiv today which always makes our job difficult...It is a dynamic situation. I want to emphasise that we are in touch with Ukrainian and Russian authorities to examine the modalities on how we can evacuate them from Kharkiv, Sumy and other cities," Bagchi said.
Asked about the Russian defence ministry offering to evacuate Indians on its own military transport planes, Bagchi did not give a direct reply but said the main focus has been to take out the citizens from the conflict zones.
"There has been no movement towards the Russian border as conflict is going on that side," he said.
The Russian defence minister on Wednesday said its armed forces are ready to take all necessary measures for the safe evacuation of the Indian citizens including sending them "home from the Russian territory with its own military transport planes or Indian planes".
Bagchi also said that a significant part of the Indian embassy staff in Kyiv left for Lviv along western Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation of Indians while another was asked to go to eastern Ukraine.
He said the officials have not reached eastern Ukraine yet. "I do not have an exact understanding about where are they."
In a related development, the Indian embassy in Ukraine on Thursday advised all Indian nationals in Kharkiv to fill up an online form on an urgent basis.
"All Indian Nationals who are in KHARKIV excluding PISOCHYN, please fill up details contained in the form on an urgent basis," the embassy said in an advisory.
The details sought in the Google form are name, email, phone number, address in Kharkiv, passport number and additional people accompanying any Indian.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
