New Delhi: About 700 Indian citizens continue to be stranded in the city of Sumy Ukraine east, without breakthrough on Sunday in an effort to regulate their evacuation in the midst of intense battles and shootings.
Indian citizens, most students, continue to take refuge in bunkers and campuses because there has been no response from Russia and Ukraine to call from the Indian side for a local ceasefire to facilitate their evacuation, the people said.
On Saturday, students who were desperate were persuaded by Indian officials not to leave their shelter and march out of Sumy. Students say in videos posted on social media they mean to walk from their campus to the Russian border because they lack food and water.
Sumy continues to be the main focus of evacuation efforts in Ukraine, especially because most citizens have been withdrawn from other conflict zones such as Kharkiv.
Indian Embassy in Kyiv launched a drive to ensure whether there are more Indians who are trapped in the conflict zone or other parts of Ukraine. Embassies seek details of Indians like that in posting on the twitter handle.
“All Indian citizens who still live in Ukraine are asked to fill the details contained in the attached Google form based on the urgent,” Embassy Tweeted.
The Ministry of External Affairs said 15,920 Indians had been brought back so far in 76 evacuation flights. Thirteen flights landed in New Delhi and Mumbai on Saturday and Sunday, bringing back around 2,500 people.
Seven evacuation flights are more scheduled on Sundays and Mondays, including one with the Indian Air Force using heavy airplanes C-17. This flight takes off from Budapest, Rzeszow and Suceava.
More than 21,000 Indians have left Ukraine since India issued its first trip advisor. From them, 19,920 has reached India.
After sending the six stages of humanitarian aid to Ukraine through its neighbors, India sent another stage from six tons of relief material through Poland on Sunday.