Back-channel: How India is undertaking the evacuation drive from Ukraine

New Delhi, Mar 04: Ever since the war in Ukraine began, the phone lines in Delhi have been busy with the top priority being evacuation of Indians. India and Russia have had several conversations over the past week to ensure that Indians are safely evacuated from Ukraine.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken with Russian President, Vladimir Putin, National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval spoke with his counterpart Nikolai Patrushev. During the call, NSA Doval pushed for the safe passage of Indians from the cities in Ukraine facing heavy fighting.

The Russian Security Council Press Secretary said that Yevgeny Anoshin said that Patrushev held a phone call with NSA, Doval. They discussed the status and prospects of security cooperation between Russia and India.

These talks came in the wake of the assurance given by Russia to form humanitarian corridors to Indian nationals who are stranded in Kharkiv and Sumy.

On Wednesday,Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the situation in Ukraine. Several 1,000 students are stranded in Kharkiv which is virtually under the control of Russia today.

The call between the two leaders was an important one and following this the girl students were sent to the Ukraine border by train. The journey lasted 20 hours and was undertaken with the help of the Russians.

During the call, both leaders reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck. They discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas, read a statement from the Prime Minister's Office.

Earlier this week, Russian ambassador-designate Denis Alipov said that Russia is putting in place humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of Indians. Russia hopes to have these corridors in place as soon as possible so that Indians in conflict zones are moved to Russian territory, Alipov said.

In addition to the back-channel talks, India also mounted a massive rescue operation named 'Operation Ganga' to bring back Indian citizens. The Ministry of External Affairs, in close coordination with Ministry of Civil Aviation, is making all efforts to bring the Indian students back to India in fast pace, the government said. Indian Airlines are putting their resources in faster evacuation process. Four Union Ministers- Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) V K Singh have gone to countries adjoining Ukraine to support and supervise these operations. Indian Civilian planes as well as Indian Air Force planes are regularly bringing back stranded Indian students.

The evacuation process, which began on February 22, has brought back over 6200 persons so far through 10 special civilian flights. Thursday's flights included 5 from Bucharest, 2 from Budapest, 1 from Kosice, and 2 from Rzeszow by Civilian airlines. In addition, 3 IAF flights were also in action to bring Indians back.

The number of civilian flights is being scaled up further, and more than 7400 persons are expected to be brought through special flights in next two days. 3,500 persons are expected to be brought back tomorrow and over 3900 March 5.