After the Indian
embassy in Ukraine urged nationals to flee the Kyiv on Tuesday,
citizens swiftly moved out either in trains or by making other arrangements.
Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India Foreign Secretary, told the media that no Indian
is left behind in Kyiv.

The evacuation
attempt comes at a time when Russia is pressing the accelerators on the Ukraine
war. On Wednesday, Russia attacked a TV tower in Kyiv, hitting nearby broadcast
facilities, say Ukrainian officials. Five people are reported to have died. A
long convoy of Russian troops are said to be on their way to Kyiv with tanks
and artillery galore.

Nearly 16,000
Indian students are stranded in Ukraine still. A total of 1,377 citizens were
brought back to India in the last 24 hours. “Six flights have now departed for
India in the last 24 hours, includes the first flights from Poland. Carried back
1,377 more Indian nationals from Ukraine,” Indian External Affairs Minister S
Jaishankar tweeted.

Evacuation ops in
Ukraine are being conducted by Operation Ganga. Operation Ganga will see 26
flights being operated between India and Ukraine over the next three days.
However, since the Ukrainian airspace is closed, these flights will have to be
run from airports in Romania, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic.

On Tuesday, India
decided to send Indian Air Force flights to Ukraine. India sent a C-17 aircraft
to Romania as part of Operation Ganga.

Indian students in
Ukraine have been desperately seeking evacuation. Videos circulating on social
media show Indians in difficult conditions at railway stations, border posts
and bunkers, NDTV reported. The students alleged that they had been manhandled.

In one specific
instance, a large group of Indian students have called to be evacuated through
Russia. Nearly 500 students are stranded in an eastern Ukraine town called
Sumy. With war raging outside, they are unable to make the 20-hour journey that
would lead them to the flights.

“It is practically
impossible and very dangerous for us to travel to the eastern border of Ukraine,”
said Anuj Tojo, a final-year student of Sumy Medical University, appealing that
they need to be rescued as quickly as possible.