The Russian defence ministry on Wednesday said its armed forces are ready to take all necessary measures for the safe evacuation of Indian citizens from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
The flight, AI1943, took off from the Mumbai airport around 3.40 am and is expected to land at the Bucharest airport around 10 am (Indian Standard Time), senior government officials said.
The eastern part of Ukraine has been witnessing intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops.
US President Joe Biden said he is "mourning the deaths" of those who were killed in the shooting and said that "we cannot continue to accept this as normal."
The embassy, however, said certain disruptions in Russian banking services, as well as direct flight connectivity to India, have been reported and Indian students may consider returning home if they have concerns over these aspects.
The Indian nationals, mostly students, research scholars and professionals are working in Indian and international companies in the Chinese province.
'With profound sorrow we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning,' the MEA tweeted.
Separately Indian embassy in Kyiv also urged its nationals who are still in Ukraine to register themselves for the evacuation process under 'Operation Ganga'.
The group of about 100 students managed to reach the station but no one could board a train.
'The Indian government evacuated its citizens from the clutches of the Taliban and Covid-hit Wuhan, so I am not worried.'
'The situation is very bad there. People are stranded'
The passengers have been quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre at Jaisalmer.
The volunteering students are studying in China, Uzbekistan and Philippines.
'There is a healthy culture of learning.'
'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'
' We have run out of food items and there is no place to stock up again. When will this end?'
"I fear I won't perform well in the class 10 board examination next year, which might affect my dreams of enrolling in a good school in Imphal," Karam said.
The students, most of whom are studying in Sumy State Medical University, said they fear for their safety as gunshots can be heard outside.
"We have also assisted nationals from other countries, who approached us, in their return to their respective countries. And we will remain open to doing so in the coming days."
A day later, Hussain's family in Kerala are thankful he escaped but also know that many perils lie ahead.
A student opened fire on his friends in a school cafeteria in north Seattle, killing at least one person and injuring several others before killing himself. Four students, including two cousins of the gunman, were shot in the head, with three severely wounded at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
National Medical Commission regulations prohibit Indian medical students overseas to transfer programmes from one university to another mid-way.
The total cost will include expenses related to crew, fuel, navigation, landing and parking charges.
'An ambassador may not be sure whether there would be a war next month, but prudence requires him to take action to see to it that people leave early.' 'Because once the war starts, it will be very difficult to move out.'
Troops of both the countries are locked in a tense standoff in the disputed areas of Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley along the LAC.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine put out a series of tweets giving a sense of the challenging situation in which Singh was taken out of Kyiv.
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.
On Wednesday, the newly-appointed inspector general of police, Mohammed Mainul Islam, ordered officers to join their respective units within the next 24 hours.
'We are trying to trace them.' 'We feel their phone batteries must have died because they are travelling by road.'
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.
'We Indians stayed back in the hope that our embassy would give us some sort of direction, some sort of guidelines that the situation had gone out of hand and we should leave immediately.' 'But the embassy did not bother to address our concerns.'
Indians being evacuated from Ukraine have been exempted from pre-boarding RT-PCR test, providing Covid vaccination certificates and uploading those on the Air Suvidha portal, the health ministry said.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the government is trying to find out details about the student from Haveri district who was reportedly injured due to the shelling by Russian forces in Ukraine's Kharkiv city.
The Indian embassy has asked Indians stranded in Kharkiv to proceed to Pisochyn, Babai and Bezlyudivka, anywhere between 11 and 16 km from Ukraine's second largest city, which is bearing the brunt of a massive Russian assault, even on foot if they cannot find vehicles.
At least 11 students were killed and scores wounded when an unidentified attacker opened fire in a school in the Russian city of Izhevsk, local officials said on Monday.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh and around 200 Indians, mainly students, also returned to India on the flight that landed at 6.15 pm, they said.
China said on Thursday that "progress" has been made in facilitating the return of thousands of Indian students stranded back home due to Beijing's COVID visa bans and efforts were on for "early return" of the first batch.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
Elaborate arrangements including a special traffic plan have been chalked out for Maghi Purnima on Wednesday and health personnel have been put on alert for the occasion when the month-long 'kalpavas', an integral tradition of the Maha Kumbh, comes to an end.
Several videos emerged on social media in which teary-eyed students urged the Indian authorities to make arrangements for their return.
