All Indian students advised to travel westwards as Kyiv lifts curbs

Kyiv (Ukraine): India on Monday asked all its nationals, especially the students, stuck in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, to move to the western parts of the country “away from active conflict.” 

The announcement came after the city lifted the weekend curfew following intense fighting on streets and attacks on residential buildings. 

“Weekend curfew lifted in Kyiv. All students are advised to make their way to the railway station for an onward journey to the western parts. Ukraine Railways is putting special trains for evacuations,” the Indian Embassy in Ukraine said in a tweet. 

The government is doing everything to step up its efforts to evacuate Indian students stranded in war-hit Ukraine. 

Following a high-level meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, the Centre today decided to send Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (retd) VK Singh to the neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission further, government sources divulged. 

Meanwhile, the sixth flight under Operation Ganga carrying 240 Indian nationals, who were stranded in Ukraine, has taken off from Budapest, Hungary, a while ago.  

The government has also established numerous 24X7 helpline centres to assist in the evacuation of Indian nationals through border crossing points with Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Slovak Republic.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a dedicated Twitter account has been set up 'OpGanga' to assist the evacuation process.