Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his forces are doing everything to evacuate the stranded Indian citizens, mostly students, from the war-torn eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, according to his office.
Poland's Ambassador to India Adam Burakowski on Monday said his country is allowing entry to people of all nationalities who are leaving war-hit Ukraine by road and food and shelter will be provided to them.
India does not have any immediate plan to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine and its focus has been on ensuring their safety rather than on anything "larger", the ministry of external affairs said on Thursday.
Several Indian students stuck in eastern parts of Ukraine, which is largely affected by the Russian military offensive, are facing a grim situation as it is difficult for them to travel by road to reach the western borders and move out of the war-hit country, one of the students returned to India said.
The eastern part of Ukraine has been witnessing intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, meanwhile, said the sixth flight under India's evacuation mission 'Operation Ganga' left for Delhi from Budapest with 240 Indian nationals.
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This is causing a shortfall of critical ammunition within the army at a time when the MoD is making emergency purchases from the global arms market to cater for a possible clash with China.
The real intention of the 'Tariff Man' (as Trump calls himself) may not even be to put the 'Tariff King' (as he describes India) on the mat with a knockout punch but to arm-twist the Indian leadership to agree to some multi-billion dollar mega arms deal, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India's comments came hours after Russia claimed that some Indian students in Kharkiv were taken hostage by Ukrainian security forces.
Singh, who arrived in Moscow on a three-day visit on Tuesday at the invitation of the Russian Ministry of Defence to attend the 75th Anniversary of Victory Day Parade, said his visit to Moscow is the first foreign visit from India of an official delegation after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his statement on the situation in the war-torn country, he said that 22,500 Indian citizens have returned safely from Ukraine.
Addressing mediapersons after the investiture ceremony of ARTRAC, Singh said the Army has to understand and study these scenarios so that it is prepared if it has to undergo a similar situation tomorrow.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India hopes to evacuate its citizens from Kharkiv and Pisochyn in the next few hours.
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.
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.
Most of the students, PTI spoke to soon after their arrival, said they had followed the advisory issued by the Indian embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The two leaders discussed the safe evacuation of Indian nationals from the conflict areas.
'We request the Indian government that they send some buses urgently so that we can travel in groups and reach safety.'
Indian students returned from Ukraine early on Wednesday morning following advisories issued by the Indian embassy in Kyiv amid rising Russia-Ukraine tensions.
In the last few days, India has been focusing primarily on ways to get the Indian students out of Sumy, a city that is around 60 km from the Russian border.
'Just because the night passed and we survived does not mean the struggle is over for us. We are far from being in a safe zone. We did start walking but the railway stations were flooded with people and still haven't been able to board a train'
A government statement said Modi conveyed to Putin that India attaches the highest priority to the safe exit of Indians from Ukraine and their return to India.
His trip to Moscow comes days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the Russian capital to attend a meeting of the defence ministers of the eight-nation SCO of which both India and China are members.
Modi, who arrived in Warsaw on the first leg of his two-nation visit during which he will also travel to Ukraine, paid his tributes at the memorials for the Valivade-Kolhapur camp and the Monument to the Battle of Monte Cassino in Warsaw.
The Russian embassy said in the spirit of the special and privileged strategic partnership with India, Moscow is committed to maintaining close dialogue with New Delhi on the situation around Ukraine.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal besides senior officials attended the meeting.
'The Indian activities at the UN are fully reflecting the merit of our special and privileged strategic partnership'
At the same time, it is learnt that Indian officials in Ukraine are facing growing complexities to evacuate the Indians to the neighbouring countries with Russian forces closing in on Ukrainian capital Kyiv and targeting several other key cities by land and air.
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.
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During a televised address, Kuleba accused Russia of violating the ceasefire agreements and urged it to stop shooting to allow civilians, including foreign students, to evacuate.
By driving a hard bargain with Russia in procuring crude oil at the lowest price possible, India is furthering the policy of G7 and Washington is "comfortable" with New Delhi over its approach in addressing issues relating to energy security, a top Biden administration official said.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the students were being taken to Poltava, some 175 km south of Sumy, from where they will board trains to western 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.
The ministry of external affairs urged Indian students to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
The spokesperson said India has "always advocated constructive, solution-oriented, and practical engagement with all stakeholders to achieve a negotiated settlement to this conflict".
The Indian embassy in Ukraine issued a fresh advisory in view of increasing Russian attacks on several Ukrainian cities and reports of heavy fighting around the capital Kyiv.
Russia says cash shortage is affecting the functioning of its embassy in New Delhi.
