NEW DELHI: Around 20,000 Indians have left Ukraine. The two areas where there is a relatively higher concentration of Indians is Sumy and Kharkiv.
"There are over 700 Indians in Sumy. It’s a conflict zone and there is heavy shelling. We are restricted in our evacuation process. We are exploring all options. Westward evacuation through the Russian border is an option too, but since it is around 60 km away and in a conflict zone, we can’t risk the lives of our people," said foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
MEA hopes for a ceasefire around Sumy as then it would be safe to evacuate Indians stuck there.
In Kharkiv, there are approximately 300 Indians and evacuation efforts are challenged there too due to shelling.
In Pesochin, Indian students left the place on Thursday through five buses that the Indian government had arranged for them. "We are exploring all options of buses, trains whatever we can manage for our people. The role of student coordinators has been tremendous in this entire evacuation process and we will continue our efforts till the last Indian is out," Bagchi added.
The Indian government has been able to bring 20,000 Indians out of Ukraine. Since the evacuation process began nearly 48 flights have been used to bring them back to India. Around 16 flights are scheduled to bring back those in the bordering countries of Ukraine – which include four Indian Air Force C17 aircraft – on Saturday. Around 10,500 Indians have returned to India.
The majority of Indians who are out of the Ukrainian border would be back in India by Saturday.
There are approximately 2000 to 3000 more Indians left in Ukraine. These figures are higher than the earlier projections of 20,000 as many obviously would not have registered with the embassy.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has been getting requests from students of other nationalities like Bangladesh and Nepal for evacuation and they have said they would do the needful.
"One Bangladeshi student has flown in with us," Bagchi said.
Once most Indians are out of Ukraine, the government could explore the possibility of putting the few who are left behind on commercial flights and bear the expenses.