NEW DELHI: The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Friday appealed to the stranded Indians to continue to remain "strong, safe and alert" and said efforts are on to evacuate them through the Romanian and Hungarian border crossings.
In an advisory, the embassy said Indian teams are being deputed at the Chop-Zahony border point on the Hungarian border as well as at Porubne-Stret on the Romanian border around Chernivtsi in Uzhhorod. "In this difficult situation, the embassy of India requests Indians to continue to remain strong, safe and alert. The embassy is also working round the clock to support the Indian community in Ukraine," it said.
"The government of India and the embassy are working to establish evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary," it said.
Around 16,000 Indians are currently stuck in Ukraine. The embassy advised Indian nationals, especially students living closest to the Chop-Zahony and Porubne-Stret border points to depart in an "organised manner" in coordination with teams from the Ministry of External Affairs to "actualise this option".
"Once above routes are operational, Indian nationals travelling by their own arrangements for transport would be advised to proceed to above border checkpoints, and remain in touch with the helpline numbers set up at respective checkpoints for facilitation through the border," it said.
The mission said the contact numbers would be shared once the control rooms are established. The embassy also advised the students to remain in touch with student contractors, for orderly movement.
It asked the Indian nationals to carry passports, cash, preferably in US dollars for any emergency expenses, and other essentials like COVID-19 vaccination certificate, if available "Print out Indian flag and paste prominently on vehicles and buses while travelling," it said.