Source: Davide Ragusa on Unsplash

More than 20,000 Indians are stranded in Ukraine. Most of these were students who went there to study medicine and engineering. In particular, there are more students studying in medical college. As the Ukrainian air border was closed, there was great difficulty in rescuing the students. However, Foreign Minister Jaishankar talked to countries including Poland, Hungary, and Romania, which are located on the border with Ukraine, and explored alternative ways of rescuing students.

Meanwhile, 40 Indian students studying at the Danylo Halytsky Medical University in Lviv, Ukraine, were walking towards the Ukraine-Poland border. The students were picked up by a bus belonging to the university and dropped off 8 km from the Ukraine-Poland border. From there they walked. The students, who were staying in Chernivtsi, came to the Ukraine-Romania border.

India has also taken steps to rescue students from Romania. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up camp offices in the cities of Chernivtsi and Lviv to assist students. Additional Russian-speaking officers have been sent to the camps.

Notices have been pasted on buses carrying Indian students. The notices state that Indian students are being loaded on these buses. This has been arranged as it will help in the safety of Indian students. Such notices have also been issued to students. These notices will be helpful to students when crossing the border. Officials said they were able to see the joy on the students ’faces as they boarded the buses. Students posed with the national flag before boarding the buses.

The Indian Embassy in Ukraine has asked students to keep their passports, dollars, Govt vaccination certificates, date of birth, their place of residence in Ukraine, and other essential documents for display at the border checkpoint.

The Indian Embassy in Poland has been providing advice to citizens who wish to leave. Google asked stranded Indians to fill out a Google form and provide their passport number, email, and location in Ukraine.

The Indian embassy in Poland has issued a new guideline following India's announcement that it would arrange free evacuation flights for its citizens stranded in Ukraine via its neighbors in Eastern Europe. Indians arriving on the Ukraine-Poland border on public transport such as buses and taxis were asked to cross the Shehini-Medica border point. The embassy said the Polish government would only allow people to reach the border between the two countries in their own vehicles.

It also outlined the details of the embassy officials responsible for the points in Lviv, Poland and Ukraine. Accordingly, the officer has already stopped at the Shehini-Medica crossing. The move comes after Jaishankar spoke with foreign ministers from Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. Indian students have started flocking to the borders of these countries following Jaisankar's assurance that all four countries would help Indians stranded in Ukraine.

A team has also been sent from the Indian Embassy in Hungary to help Indian students. The Polish administration has arranged flights to send Indians coming to the Polish border to India.

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