Amid the prevailing situation in Ukraine due to the rising tensions with Russia, India has advised its citizens to temporarily leave Ukraine.
United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart in Rome and held discussions on a range of issues, including bilateral relation and Russia's war against Ukraine, the White House said.
Responding to a discussion in Lok Sabha on the situation in Ukraine, Jaishankar said the Ukrainian government too has offered relaxation for students for taking two key examinations in their medical education courses.
Geopolitical tensions simmered at the US Open on Thursday as Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk refused the customary handshake at the net when Belarusian Victoria Azarenka defeated her 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India hopes to evacuate its citizens from Kharkiv and Pisochyn in the next few hours.
State Bank of India, the nation's largest lender, has stopped processing transactions of Russian entities that have been sanctioned by the West over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, sources said. To effect this, SBI has issued a circular as it fears that any transaction with entities or sectors under sanction will invite sanction on it as well, sources said. No transactions involving entities, banks, ports or vessels appearing on a US, European Union or United Nations sanctions list would be processed irrespective of the currency of the transaction, they said. Payments due to such entities have to be processed by other mechanism rather than through the banking channel, sources added.
Biden, while not ruling out the meeting Putin at G20 meet, said that there are conditions attached.
Only 13 nations voted in favour of Russia's call for a secret ballot on draft resolution on Ukraine.
Three evacuation flights from Romania's capital Bucharest and Hungary's capital Budapest came to India on Tuesday with 616 Indian nationals who were stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive, officials said.
Russia and the US are the major partners in the ISS programme, which also includes Canada, Japan and several European nations like France, Italy and Spain.
'Russia was hit with sanctions yesterday, but these are not enough to get these foreign troops off our soil. Only through solidarity and determination can this be achieved'
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) held a series of high-level meetings to put into operation certain contingency plans in view of the rapidly changing situation in Ukraine.
While the Gujarat government has not specified the exact number of students from the state still stuck in Ukraine, Gujarat Education Minister Jitu Vaghani gave an assurance on Thursday that the Centre as well as the Indian Embassy in Ukraine were doing everything possible to ensure the safe return of the students.
Ukraine government officials have accused Russian forces of destroying grain storage facilities in the country. Nearly 25 million tonnes of grains are stuck in Ukrainian warehouses and unable to move out due to Vladimir Putin's War.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki warned of the potential use of chemical weapons in Ukraine after Moscow alleged the United States was housing biological weapons in Ukrainian territory.
Russian missile strikes hit 'critical infrastructure' in Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa on Sunday morning, Serhii Bratchuk, spokesman of the Operational Staff of Odesa regional military administration said.
Only 75 aircraft were deployed to support the invasion, observes Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
Radio Free Europe reported that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a Chinese-led development bank, suspended all business with Russia and Belarus on March 3.
Separately Indian embassy in Kyiv also urged its nationals who are still in Ukraine to register themselves for the evacuation process under 'Operation Ganga'.
A video of students stranded in the war-hit Ukrainian city of Sumy holding Indian flags and threatening to take up a journey to the Russian border on foot created an uproar in national and international media, which in turn, prompted the Indian authorities to fast-track their evacuation process.
They are now publicly trying to redefine the goals of their invasion to be different than they were at the outset, she noted when asked about some declassified American intelligence information that Putin had bad information from his military.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India has also approached the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva and requested it to be cognizant of the security interests of the Indian citizens and escort them out, wherever possible, when it starts its operation in Ukraine.
'Frankly, India has no role to play.' 'This is a showdown between the US and NATO on one hand and Russia on the other.' 'That said, the outcome of this titanic struggle in Central Europe will remould the world order and affect India profoundly,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India abstained in the United Nations General Assembly on a draft resolution calling for Russia to be held accountable for violations of international law by its invasion of Ukraine and requiring Moscow to pay reparations to Kyiv for damages, loss and injury resulting from the war.
The anticipated surgery and recovery are expected to incapacitate Putin for 'a short time', the report said.
President Joe Biden is prepared to engage with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in any format at any place and time to prevent a war, top United States diplomat said on Sunday as he asserted that everything leading up to the actual invasion of Ukraine appears to be taking place.
'In many cases, I didn't take money because the Indian students had run out of cash.' 'The biggest high was the blessings that these students's parents used to give me on the phone or send messages thanking me on WhatsApp.'
Russian forces have made minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days and they continue to suffer heavy losses, the UK's ministry of defence said on Thursday.
Notwithstanding how the current impasse is solved, at some point in the future, Russia will realise that just as centuries ago it developed the paradigm of securing its heartland's safety through annexing vast buffer zones between itself and the enemy, a more modern security is possible only through friendly relations and sustainable peace, observes Shyam G Menon.
President of Norweigan FA Ms. Klaveness, who is gay, gave a six-minute speech blasting FIFA and the Qatar FA for their human rights violations
Zaporizhzhia power plant spokesperson Andrey Tuz said the plant has not sustained any critical damage, although only one power generation unit out of six is operational as the fire continued at the facility.
'It seems that athletes from these countries (Russia and Belarus) do not understand at all why they are now being disqualified from competitions all over the world.'
The 193-member general assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following the organisation of the above-mentioned referendums".
"People's republics of Donbass approached Russia with a request for help. In connection therewith, I made the decision to hold a special military operation," Putin said in a special television address.
Images from Tuesday's action in the UEFA Champions League.
Putin justified his decision in a speech blaming NATO for the current crisis and calling the US-led alliance an existential threat to Russia.
'Our embassy will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to ensure the safe evacuation of Indian students'
'There has been no help that has come from the Indian embassy till date. We have no idea when we all will be evacuated.'
Moody's and Fitch on Thursday downgraded Russia's sovereign rating to 'junk' grade following severe sanctions by western countries. While Moody's Investors Service downgraded Russia's long-term issuer and senior unsecured (local-and foreign-currency) debt ratings to 'B3' from 'Baa3', Fitch pulled down the rating on the country to 'B' from 'BBB', putting it on 'Rating Watch Negative'. The downgraded rating is in speculative or junk category reflecting default risk. It signifies that even through financial commitments are currently being met, the sovereign is vulnerable to high credit risk.
Congress leaders have supported the Union government's stand of abstaining from voting in the anti-Russia resolution in the United Nations General Assembly, informed sources on Thursday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances