Indian embassy now in Ukraine’s Lviv after citizens asked to leave Kyiv

India is now setting up its embassy in Lviv, the western Ukrainian city after all citizens have been evacuated from Kyiv, the nation’s capital, CNN reported India’s foreign secretary Harsh Shringla saying late Tuesday. 

However, he didn’t mention whether India would be shutting the existing embassy in Kyiv. Shringla was quoted saying, by CNN, “The Embassy office in Ukraine is being set up in Lviv, which will enable our Embassy teams to spread out to the border areas of Ukraine with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania”. He observed that Lviv’s proximity to the western border would make it easier for India to help evacuate citizens from Ukraine to the neighbouring countries. 

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India had advised all citizens to leave the Ukrainian capital, earlier this week, and Shringla confirmed, according to CNN “All of our nationals have left Kyiv”. 

Notably, Italy and France have also shifted their embassies to Lviv, from Kyiv, after the capital city faces the threat of a Russian onslaught with Maxar Technology’s satellite images showing Russian troops gathering at the outskirts of the city. 

Currently, 12,000 of the 20,000 Indian citizens in Ukraine have already been evacuated, CNN reports. As per Shringla, of the remaining, nearly half are in conflict zones in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine, while others are out of harm’s way. On Tuesday, an Indian student from Karnataka, studying MBBS in Kharkiv was killed due to shelling. 

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Reports have emerged that Indian students aren’t doing too well in Ukraine, with many hiding out in bunkers. An ex-army chief from India also advised them to do the same, and wait for evacuation, as per ANI. He told them not to attempt moving towards the border themselves, either. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted that the country’s focus is on the safety of the citizens abroad and bringing them back. To that end, ministers have been sent as special envoys to countries neighbouring Ukraine, to facilitate the evacuation process. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has also taken charge of the evacuation now.