An Indian student was killed after being hit by shelling in Kharkiv, a city in eastern Ukraine, the government said on Tuesday, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked the Indian Air Force (IAF) to join the evacuation efforts in Ukraine and chaired a high-level meeting to review the efforts to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine.
“With profound sorrow, we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family. We convey our deepest condolences to the family,” tweeted Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. The student has been identified as Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, 21, from Karnataka. He was a fourth-year medical student at the Kharkiv National Medical University in Kharkiv. Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday spoke to the father of Naveen Shekharappa, the Indian student who died in shelling in Kharkiv. Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday also chaired a high-level meeting to review the efforts to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine. The meeting is being attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and senior officials. The Prime minister had on Monday chaired two meetings to review the ongoing efforts under Operation Ganga for the return of Indians from Ukraine amid military operations by Russia. Another meeting was held on Sunday.
All Indian nationals have left Kyiv and nearly 60% of Indians in Ukraine have left the country so far, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Tuesday. Shringla said at a media briefing: “All of our nationals have left Kyiv. The information with us is that we have no more nationals left in Kyiv; nobody has contacted us from Kyiv since. All our enquiries reveal that each and every one of our nationals have come out of Kyiv.” India on Tuesday sent the first tranche of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine through Poland, Shringla said. The Indian embassy in Kyiv has shut down and the Ambassador and the staff are on their way to the western part of the country, sources said. The Indian embassy in Kyiv shut down after it did its best to ensure there are no Indians are left in the city, which is facing a large incoming Russian invasion force, sources said, adding that a massive Russian bombardment is expected tomorrow. The Indian embassy is likely to be relocated to western Ukraine’s Lviv, for which office space has been identified, the sources said.
“Naveen was shot dead around 10.30 am Ukrainian time today. He was standing in the queue before a grocery shop when the Russian army fired at people. We have no information about his body. None of us was able to visit the hospital, probably where it is kept now,” said Sridharan Gopalakrishnan, who was Naveen’s hostel mate.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai expressed his condolences over Gyanagouda’s death. Bommai told reporters he spoke to the student’s parents and that efforts are being made to bring his body to India. Kharkiv, which is located barely 40 km from the Russian border, has been witnessing intense hostilities over the past few days. It houses one of the largest clusters of Indian students owing to the number of medical colleges in the area.
Earlier on Tuesday, India advised its citizens in Kyiv to leave the city “urgently”. The Indian Embassy in Ukraine posted on Twitter, “All Indian nationals including students are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today. Preferably by available trains or through any other means available.”
Meanwhile, in order to scale up the ongoing evacuation efforts under “Operation Ganga”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked the Indian Air Force (IAF) to join the evacuation efforts, said sources. The sources said that leveraging the capacities of the Air Force will ensure that more people can be evacuated in a shorter time frame. It will also help to deliver humanitarian aid more efficiently, sources added. Indian Air Force is likely to deploy several C-17 aircraft as part of “Operation Ganga” from Tuesday. Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft will leave for Romania at 4 am on Wednesday to bring back Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine. The Union government has launched “Operation Ganga” to bring back stranded students and Indian citizens.
PM Modi called on President Ram Nath Kovind and briefed him on the prevailing situation and steps being taken by the government, sources informed on Tuesday. Yesterday, PM Modi while presiding over a high-level meeting over the Ukraine crisis, had said that the entire government machinery is working round the clock to ensure that all stranded Indians in Ukraine are safe and secure.
The seventh flight carrying 182 Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine reached Mumbai from Romania’s Bucharest on Tuesday. Union Minister Narayan Rane received the evacuated Indian nationals at the Mumbai airport. Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs said that India has evacuated over 8,000 nationals since the initial advisories were issued by the country. As many as seven flights will land in Delhi on Wednesday carrying stranded Indians from Ukraine, the government sources said on Tuesday. A total of nine flights have already brought back stranded Indian nationals from Ukraine.
The sources said that the first flight of IndiGo Airlines is taking off from Hungary’s capital Budapest on Tuesday evening and will land at Delhi Airport on Wednesday 7:20 am. The IndiGo flight has the capacity to carry 216 passengers. According to sources, flights will take off throughout the day from Budapest, Rzeszow, and Bucharest and will be landing at Delhi Airport on Wednesday by late evening.
A report from New York said taking into account the humanitarian requirements in Ukraine, Ambassador of India to United Nations, T.S. Tirumurti, on Monday (local time), said that India has decided to provide urgent relief supplies, including medicines to Ukraine. Tirumurti made these remarks at an UNSC meeting, adding that India remains deeply concerned about the unfolding developments in Ukraine where the situation continues to deteriorate. “Our considered call for an immediate cessation of violence and an end to all hostilities is an urgent imperative,” he stated.