Indian Ambassador in Ukraine Asks People to Stay Calm, Remain in ‘Familiar Locations’

The Embassy has advised against travelling to Kyiv from within the country. In India, the MEA has said it is closely monitoring the situation and has set up a 24×7 control room.

New Delhi: The Indian embassy in Ukraine has issued advisories to Indian nationals in the country, requesting them to maintain calm, urging people not to travel to the country’s capital of Kyiv and assuring them that it is arranging alternative evacuations.

“The present situation in Ukraine is highly uncertain,” the embassy in Kyiv has written in a tweeted advisory.

The announcement comes after Russian forces fired missiles at several cities in Ukraine and landed troops on its south coast after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the east.

With Russia’s focus on eastern Ukraine, the Embassy has asked “all those who are traveling to Kyiv, including those traveling from western parts of Kyiv, are advised to return to their respective cities temporarily, especially towards safer places along the western bordering countries.”

Later in the day, the ambassador issued another advisory directly, requesting all Indians in Ukraine to “remain calm”. The ambassador, Partha Satpathy, said he had been “inundated with calls”, as had the embassy, and both were doing their best to help. He requested those who could to also reach out to their local contacts in Kyiv and ask for help.

In another advisory, the embassy was looking for options for students who have no place to stay and are unable to move around. Given the air sirens and bomb warning, the advisory also links to an official list of underground bomb shelters.

Later on Thursday evening, the embassy said that a “Team from Embassy of India in Hungary has been despatched to the border post Zohanyi to coordinate and provide assistance to facilitate exit of Indians from Ukraine.”

A source at the Ministry of External Affairs sought to clarify that the Indian Embassy in Ukraine is functional and its advisories should be followed carefully.

“Additional Russian speaking officials have been sent to our Embassy in Ukraine and are being deployed in countries neighbouring Ukraine,” they said.

Amidst close monitoring and high-level meetings at the MEA, “focus is on safety and security of Indians, particularly students. MEA control room is being expanded and made operational on 24×7 basis,” MEA sources said.

There is no possibility of sending special aircraft to Ukraine to evacuate Indians, including Indian embassy staff, as Ukraine’s airspace has closed for civilian flights. On its website, Ukraine State Air Traffic Services Enterprise announced the suspension of air traffic services. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) also said airspace in Russia and Belarus within 100 nautical miles of their borders with Ukraine could also pose safety risks.

“In particular, there is a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft,” the agency said in a conflict zone bulletin.

The MEA source has said alternate evacuation routes are being activated considering the airspace closure.

The Ukraine embassy too tweeted that alternate arrangements were in the works and mentioned helpline numbers.

While some reports suggested that students were queuing outside the Indian embassy in Kyiv with nowhere to go, sources told The Wire that the situation had been sorted out and the students had been provided a place to stay.

“Today morning, a large number of Indian students in Ukraine turned up outside the Indian Embassy in Kyiv. Naturally, not all could be accommodated inside the Embassy premises. Accordingly, the Embassy organised safe premises nearby and the students were moved there. This process took some time given the ground situation in Kyiv. No Indian national is currently stranded outside the Embassy. As fresh students arrive, they are being moved to the safe premises,” the source said.

As per estimates, over 15,000 Indians are currently in Ukraine.

It is learnt that a series of meetings are underway to asses the situation and ways to extend assistance to Indians in that country.

Comments underneath the Indian Embassy’s tweet largely include those from Twitter users requesting evacuation of students.

Many Indian students, most of whom are studying medicine arrived in India from Ukraine on Tuesday night. An earlier advisory from the Embassy, on February 22, had asked students to leave the country temporarily rather than wait for their universities to issue confirmations.

(With agency inputs)