624 Indian students stranded in Ukraine's Sumy moved out: MEA

New Delhi, Mar 8: The Indian students stranded in the war-torn Ukrainian city of Sumy have been moved out and flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them back home, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Tuesday.

In a tweet, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "Happy to inform that we have been able to move out all Indian students from Sumy. They are currently en route to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine." "Flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them home," he added.

Embassy of India, Kyiv along with the Indian World Forum and Ukrainian Red Cross are assisting the stranded students through the journey from Sumy to Poltava from where they will board trains to western Ukraine, ANI reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday on ways to start the stalled evacuation process of the Indian students from Sumy, which is being pummelled by the Russian forces.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri told reporters here that 694 Indian students, who were stranded in Sumy, left for Poltava in buses on Tuesday. "Last night, I checked with the control room, 694 Indian students were remaining in Sumy. Today, they have all left in buses for Poltava," he said.

The Russian and Ukrainian troops have engaged in a heavy battle in Sumy for days now. Hence, India's efforts to evacuate its citizens did not met with success. With no electricity and water supply, ATMs running out of cash, melting snow to slake their thirst and fast running out of supplies, hundreds of Indian students trapped in Sumy stood on roads every morning, hoping that "today would be the day" when they would be rescued from the savagery of the war that has engulfed Ukraine.

"We stood in a queue for three hours in freezing cold on Monday, waiting to board the buses and then, we were told that we cannot go. Thankfully, we left Sumi on Tuesday. I am hoping that we will be in a safe zone soon," Aashiq Hussain Sarkar, another medical student, told PTI.