India Issues Fresh Advisory for Citizens in Strife-Torn Ukraine

The Embassy of India in Kyiv, Ukraine, has put out a fresh circular on Sunday advising the Indian nationals and students in the strife-torn country to move out of areas of active conflict and “proceed towards Western regions”. The Embassy advised the Indian citizens to use the Railways as the mode of transport stating that it was “operational and safer”.Ukrainian Railways is running special trains for the evacuation of people free of cost, while regular trains are also operational. The Indian nationals were also advised to travel in groups and if alone, they could identify fellow Indians and then travel together.The circular said that the Indian embassy was in constant touch with the Ukrainian authorities “requesting the safety of our citizens”.A second circular issued by the embassy informed that there was intense fighting in Kharkiv, Sumy and Khiv and advised the Indians to not move during curfew times.Meanwhile, a fourth evacuation flight carrying 198 Indians from Romanian capital Bucharest left for India on Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said. Following the closure of Ukrainian airspace, India is facilitating the evacuation of stranded Indians from Ukraine through its land border crossings with Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.The first evacuation flight carrying 219 Indians from Bucharest landed in Mumbai on Saturday evening. The second flight with 250 nationals arrived in Delhi in the early hours of Sunday. The third Air India flight with around 240 Indians has also left for Delhi from the Hungarian capital Budapest. India has named the evacuation mission ‘Operation Ganga’.At least 64 civilians have been killed and more than 160,000 are on the move after Russian troops entered Ukraine this week, a United Nations relief agency said.“As of 5:00 p.m. on 26 February, (U.N. human rights office) OHCHR reports at least 240 civilian casualties, including at least 64 dead,” the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a status report,It added the actual figures were likely to be “considerably higher”.(With inputs from agencies)Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Assembly Elections Live Updates here.

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