Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting to review the Ukraine-related situation and evacuation of Indian students from the war-ravaged country.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla took part in the high-level meeting.
The PM was briefed about the evacuation status and was informed that the number of students who have returned to the country so far.
This meeting comes after an Indian student was reportedly been shot at and injured in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The announcement was made by Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh on Friday. Singh is in Poland currently to facilitate the evacuation of Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine.
A fifth meeting chaired by PM Modi
This is the fifth meeting chaired by the PM. The government has launched “Operation Ganga” to evacuate its citizens and sent four Union ministers as PM Modi’s “special envoys” to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the exercise.
The Centre has brought 17,000 students to India from Ukraine while 7,000 are yet to be evacuated.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has called for a return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.
India has asked Russia to facilitate the safe passage of Indians
On March 2, the PM spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where many Indian students are stuck amid Russia ramping up its military offensive on Ukraine’s key locations.
An official statement said the two leaders discussed the safe evacuation of the Indians from the conflict areas in Ukraine and reviewed the situation, especially in Kharkiv.
India asked Russia to facilitate the safe passage of Indians from various conflict zones after the killing of an Indian student in shelling in Kharkiv on Tuesday.
