India to evacuate citizens from Ukraine via Hungary, Romania

New Delhi, Feb 25: India is working to establish evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary. At present, teams are getting in place at CHOP-ZAHONY Hungarian border near Uzhhorod, PORUBNE-SIRET Romanian Border near Chernivtsi.

"Indian nationals, especially students living closest to the above border checkpoints are being advised to depart first in an organised manner in coordination with team from MEA to actualise this option," said Indian Embassy in Hungary.

India has mounted a major initiative to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine to neighbouring countries through land border crossings after Russia launched a large-scale military assault on the eastern

Amid the deepening crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and "sensitised" him about India's concerns regarding the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine, especially students.

With increasing concerns over the safety of Indians in Ukraine, Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) with a primary focus of evacuating the citizens.

The MEA said there were around 20,000 Indians in Ukraine and of them, nearly 4,000 have returned to India in the last few days.

The government has asked Indian ambassadors in countries neighbouring Ukraine such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary to send teams from their missions to border areas with Ukraine to facilitate the exit of Indians so that they can be evacuated to India.

The Indian embassy in Poland said a camp office is being set up at Krakowiec on the Polish-Ukrainian border that will facilitate transit through Poland to India. A similar office is also being set up in Lviv in Ukraine.

After Putin ordered a "military operation" in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, Russia launched multiple attacks on several areas in central and eastern Ukraine that attracted severe condemnation from the US and its allies.

As the Ukrainian government declared a state emergency and closed the country's airspace for civilian flights, the Indian embassy in Kyiv issued three separate advisories in the course of the day appealing to the Indians to maintain calm and remain safe wherever they are.

The embassy said in view of the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, alternative arrangements are being made for the evacuation of Indian nationals. However, it did not provide any clarity on evacuation arrangements.