Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Monday claimed that over 100 Indian students were stranded at the Ukraine-Romania border after the Ukrainian military allegedly did not allow them passage.
Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Monday claimed that over 100 Indian students were stranded at the Ukraine-Romania border after the Ukrainian military allegedly did not allow them passage.
Highlighting the students’ plight to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tagore said they have been out in the freezing cold for two nights in a row and are running out of food and water.
“More than 100 Indian (Tamil) students trapped in Ukraine Romania border. Ukrainian military is blocking students from entering the Romanian territory. They have been suffering in the cold without food or water for two nights in open sky. Let’s act now,” he tweeted.
The Congress leader also alleged that the Indian embassy was not responding to the students’ requests for evacuation from Ukraine and grant of safe passage into Romania.
Dear Prime Minister, don’t believe all is well story of your ministers. Something unthinkable [is] happening in the Ukraine border. Our diplomats not attending calls of the Indian students can’t be accepted,” said Tagore.
The Indian government has launched Operation Ganga to evacuate stranded Indian nationals in Ukraine amid a worsening crisis in the country following the declaration of war by Russia on Thursday.
However, reports have come in from several quarters that authorities at Ukraine’s border crossings are not allowing through Indian nationals, including students.
At a media briefing, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India has evacuated around 2,000 of its citizens from Ukraine and 1,000 of them have been brought back home on chartered flights from Budapest and Bucharest.
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.
In a related development, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his Moldovian counterpart Nicu Popescu on Sunday and sought support for facilitating the entry of Indians on the Ukraine-Moldova border.
