The Indian students evacuated from Sumy in Ukraine were brought to Poland late Wednesday in a special train from Lviv, and will be flown back to India on Thursday, according to the government. The students, numbering around 700, were evacuated from the conflict zone on Tuesday in buses and taken to Poltava in central Ukraine through a circuitous but safe route.
Official sources also said the government will operate its last evacuation flight under Operation Ganga on Thursday and those who choose to stay behind will have to find their own way out and take a commercial flight to India.
Apart from Indian embassy officials, 50 other officials, including some of the joint secretary rank who are fluent in Russian, were sent to Ukraine to facilitate evacuation. The government does not want to endanger their lives by asking them to stay put in the war zone. Official sources said that 17 foreign nationals from India’s neighbourhood, including Pakistan’s Asma Shafique, were among those evacuated by Indian authorities and brought to Lviv. Thirteen Bangladeshis, two Tunisians and a Nepalese national were also among the evacuees. Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for including students from her country in Operation Ganga.
Meanwhile, a report from Antalya, Turkey said the talks between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Turkey amid the third week of war between the two nations failed to yield any progress on a ceasefire and humanitarian corridors, said the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday.
“Ukraine, Russia made no progress towards agreeing on a ceasefire after the Russian invasion at tense talks in Turkey,” Kuleba said. Kuleba said he raised the prospect of establishing a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to flee from the besieged city of Mariupol, but “unfortunately Minister Lavrov was not in a position to commit himself to it.”
In a press conference following the short meeting, Kuleba said a 24-hour ceasefire was also raised in order “to resolve the most pressing humanitarian issues,” but he said they “did not make progress” on the issue “since it seems there are other decision-makers for this matter in Russia.”
Kuleba said they did agree to continue efforts to “seek a solution to the humanitarian issues on the ground,” and added that he is ready to meet again “in this format if there are prospects for substantial discussion and seeking solutions”.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba will take place in Turkey’s Antalya. “In #Antalya, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov holds a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry #Kuleba,” tweeted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. This comes against the backdrop of Russian forces launching military operations in Ukraine on 24 February, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities.
A report from Moscow quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will meet in Moscow on Friday. Earlier in the day, the media reported that Putin and Lukashenko plan to discuss allied cooperation and situation in Ukraine. “Yes, indeed, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will pay a working visit to Moscow tomorrow. He will hold talks with President Putin,” Peskov said.