New Delhi: A special train from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv transported the last big batch of Indian nationals out of the war-ravaged Eurasian country on Wednesday, which is likely to put a cap on the Indian government’s ‘operation Ganga’ to fly stranded nationals back home from neighbouring countries.
The Indian government has claimed that more than 22,000 Indians had returned from Ukraine since the first advisory was issued before the Russians invaded its smaller neighbour on February 24.
The last batch of over 600-700 Indian students was stranded in Sumy, caught in the intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. After one aborted attempt, they were finally evacuated in a humanitarian corridor agreed by the two sides on Tuesday.
The Indian embassy tweeted on Wednesday evening that the students had boarded a special train from Lviv for neighbouring Poland. They would then be brought back in special flights to India on Thursday.
Ambassador flags off special train with 600 🇮🇳n students from Sumy University at Lviv Railway Station. They will travel to Poland and are expected to board evacuation flights to 🇮🇳 tomorrow.
Be Safe Be Strong pic.twitter.com/6KYSAMxl9U— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) March 9, 2022
The operation in Sumy began on Tuesday morning when the last big group of 600 Indians was evacuated from the city.
Sources stated that the approval for the second successful attempt came late on Monday night from Ukrainian authorities. “The buses reached at 8 am and left by 9 am. We were very worried till we reached the mid-point (on the way to Poltava).”
The Indian nationals were taken from Sumy in a convoy of 13 buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Poltava, Anshad Ali, a student coordinator, told news agency PTI.
A Pakistani national was also reported to have been brought out in the buses from Sumy, along with people of other nationalities.
Official Indian sources stated that they are aware of the claims made on social media and media reports that some Indian citizens were discriminated against but said they were not credible. A well-informed government source stated that no formal complaint had been lodged by an Indian national. “We saw some of the videos. They didn’t check out,” the source said.
A viral video showed a large crowd being beaten after they surged across the border gates. Sources described it as crowd control tactics by border guards working under challenging circumstances. It was pointed out that there were no indications that Indians were being “targeted”.
On the reports of Indians not being allowed to board trains at Kharkiv, sources said that the Ukrainians had a quota of how many foreigners could be on each wagon. “It is their country, so their civilians also had to get out, so understandably they couldn’t fill the outgoing trains with all foreigners. So many Indians were on the train, but others who could not get on the trains complained that it was deliberate,” the source said.
India has publicly appreciated the authorities’ efforts in Ukraine and its neighbours to facilitate the return of thousands of Indians escaping the warzone in Europe.
There had been reports that some students had to pay to be evacuated in buses from other cities. Sources said that a fluid war-like ground situation meant that sometimes the student contractors had to pay the drivers on the spot, which required Indian nationals to collect available cash.
India had sent four Union ministers as special envoys to the four neighbouring countries of Ukraine, whose land borders were open to receive refugees fleeing the fighting. Over 50 officials were also temporarily posted in the four countries to boost the Indian missions handling the departure of nationals leaving Ukraine.
When asked whether India was aware of any Indian nationals fighting for the Ukrainians, sources stated that it was not yet in the government’s knowledge. “Instinctively, it is not a good thing to encourage from here,” sources said but added that it remains to be seen whether a special advisory needs to be issued to discourage such an eventuality.
(With agency inputs)