‘Strongly pressing Russian, Ukrainian govts, stay inside’, says MEA to students in Sumy

This comes soon after Indian students stranded in northeast Ukraine’s Sumy city shared videos saying they have decided to take a risky journey to the Russian border that's 50 kilometres away.

Team Newsable

New Delhi, First Published Mar 5, 2022, 4:34 PM IST | Last Updated Mar 5, 2022, 4:34 PM IST

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday said it is exploring all possible ways to safely evacuate the Indian nationals from eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy and officials are in regular touch with students there.

“Exploring all possible mechanisms to evacuate Indian citizens in Sumy, safely & securely. Discussed evacuation & identification of exit routes with all interlocutors including Red Cross,” the embassy tweeted.

The Ministry further said it has “strongly pressed” the Russian and Ukrainian governments through multiple channels for an immediate ceasefire to create a safe corridor for its students stranded amidst the raging war in Ukraine.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Saturday also said on Twitter, “We are deeply concerned about Indian students in Sumy, Ukraine. Have strongly pressed Russian and Ukrainian governments through multiple channels for an immediate ceasefire to create a safe corridor for our students.”

“Control room will continue to be active until all our citizens are evacuated. Be Safe Be Strong,” it said.

Sumy is one of the conflict zones witnessing intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

This comes soon after Indian students stranded in northeast Ukraine’s Sumy city shared videos saying they have decided to take a risky journey to the Russian border that's 50 kilometres away. In what they claimed would be their “last video” from Sumy, they said the Indian government and its embassy in Ukraine would be responsible if anything happened to them.

The students have, however, decided not to leave after they were contacted by the embassy.

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