130 buses ready to evacuate Indian students from Kharkiv, Sumy: Russia

INTERNATIONAL DESK: 130 Russian buses are ready for the safe evacuation of Indian students and other foreigners from Kharkiv and Sumy of war-hit Ukraine.

“A total of 13o comfortable buses are ready to depart to Kharkiv and Sumy from the Nekhoteyevka and Sudzha checkpoints in the Belgorod region since 6 AM today in order to rescue Indian students and citizens of other foreign states”, said Russian National Defense Control Head Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev.

Mizintsev said that places for temporary accommodation and rest have been set up at the checkpoints. The refugees will be provided with hot meals; mobile clinics have also been set up there with a stockpile of medicine, he said.

“The evacuees will be then transported to the city of Belgorod for subsequent departure to their homeland by air, including via Russian military airplanes,” the General said.

His statement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the safe evacuation of Indians from the conflict areas in Ukraine. Earlier this week, foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had asserted that nearly 8,000 Indians, mainly students, are stranded in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the UN said that one million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s military operations.

The tally frim the UNHC for refugees amount to more than 2% of Ukraine’s population—which the world counted at 44 million at the end of 2020. It has been predicted that approximately 4 million people could eventually leave the strife-torn nation. (msn.com)