Ukraine: All Indian Students Evacuated From Sumy, Says MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Monday evening that all Indian students who were in Sumy had been successfully evacuated, and were now in Poltova.

New Delhi: Safe corridors intended to let civilians escape the Russian onslaught in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy opened on Tuesday, officials from both sides said, though previous efforts to establish evacuation routes crumbled amid renewed attacks. The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Monday evening that all Indian students who were in Sumy had been successfully evacuated, and were now in Poltova.

“Happy to inform that we have been able to move out all Indian students from Sumy. They are currently en route to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine,” Bagchi tweeted.

“Flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them home,” he said.

Bagchi, however, did not specify from which border point and when will they be evacuated from Ukraine to board flights for their return to India.

Indian students were evacuated from Sumy, Ukraine on March 8, 2022. Photo: By arrangement

The MEA spokesperson also posted a video on Twitter showing Indian students having refreshments in the backdrop of parked buses.

Ukraine called on Russia to open more such corridors.

However, according to Ukrainian authorities, the second convoy from Sumy, which was planned for 1 pm local time, did not leave. Russian tanks opened fire in the direction of the exit from Sumy, the authorities said. Buses from the Poltava region with Sumy residents left for a parking lot at the depot.

The Indian embassy in Ukraine, meanwhile, asked Indians still in the country to urgently make use of the corridor, since “establishment of the next humanitarian corridor is uncertain”.

Earlier in the day, the embassy said that the mission to rescue 75 stranded soldiers from Mykolaiv port was successful.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Tuesday that both sides agreed to a cease-fire from 9 am-9 pm Ukraine time (0700-1900 GMT) for the evacuation of civilians from the eastern city of Sumy.

Those being evacuated from Sumy include foreign students from India and China, she said. About 600 Indians had been stranded in Sumy.

The first convoy with evacuated civilians in buses or private cars is to leave at 10 am (0800 GMT), on a single route toward the Ukrainian city of Poltava.

She said Russia’s Defence Ministry agreed to this in a letter to the International Red Cross. The corridor will also be used to bring humanitarian aid into Sumy, she said.

She reiterated that Russian proposals to evacuate civilians to Russia and Belarus were unacceptable. She didn’t elaborate on the possibility of evacuating Ukrainians toward western Ukraine.

Russia on Tuesday declared that it would be opening a “humanitarian corridor” starting 12:30 pm IST, as India reiterated concerns about being safely evacuate Indian students from Ukrainian cities hit by the invasion.

“In order to conduct a humanitarian operation from 12.30 IST on March 8, 2022, Russia declares cease-fire and is ready to provide humanitarian corridors,” the Russian embassy in India tweeted.

Russia has announced humanitarian corridors from Sumy by two routes to Poltava and to “the territory of the Russian Federation to Belgorod – then by air, rail and road transport to selected destinations or temporary accommodation, in the southern direction – in agreement with the Ukrainian side”.

On Monday, India had expressed dismay after a promised humanitarian corridor out of Sumy had not materialised. India said in the United Nations Security Council that humanitarian actions should “not be politicised”.

Earlier in the day, hopes had been raised that India would be able to evacuate more than 700 nationals stranded in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy after Russia announced humanitarian corridors from four cities.

However, the ceasefire required to operate the corridor never took hold. The operation to evacuate over 700 Indian medical students had to be abandoned at the last minute, even after at least two buses were packed.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for deliberately not allowing foreign nationals to leave the besieged cities. Ukraine countered that Russia was keeping foreign students as “hostages”.

Russia’s offensive in Ukraine continued but at a significantly slower pace on Tuesday and a second senior Russian commander had been killed, Ukrainian military and intelligence said, as frightened residents fled bombed-out cities.

In the city of Irpin, on the northwest edge of Kyiv, residents ran with their young children in strollers, or cradling babies in arms, while others carried pet carriers and plastic bags and suitcases.

“It’s like a disaster, the city is almost ruined, and the district where I’m living, it’s like there are no houses which were not bombed,” said one young mother, holding a baby beneath a blanket, while her daughter stood by her side.

“Yesterday was the hardest bombing, and the lights and sound is so scary, and the whole building is shaking.”

Ukraine’s military intelligence said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces killed a Russian general near the besieged city of Kharkiv, the second Russian senior commander to die in the invasion.

(With agency inputs)