Ukraine crisis: PM stresses importance of respecting sovereignty, territorial integrity of nations

New Delhi, Feb 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday stressed the importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, as he spoke to his counterparts from the Slovak Republic and Romania to seek their continued assistance in the evacuation of Indian citizens from Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Modi, in his telephonic conversations with Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger and his Romanian counterpart Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca, also expressed his anguish at the ongoing violence and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and reiterated India's consistent appeal for cessation of hostilities and a return to dialogue. He thanked the two leaders for their countries' assistance in the evacuation of Indian citizens from Ukraine over the last few days, it said.

The prime minister appreciated Romania's gesture in allowing Indian citizens to enter the country without visas and thanked the two leaders for permitting special evacuation flights from India. He requested Heger for continued assistance over the next few days as India works to evacuate all its citizens from the conflict zones, the PMO said. Modi also informed Ciuca and Heger about the deployment of Union ministets Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kiren Rijiju as his special envoys to oversee the evacuation efforts of the Indian citizens over the next few days in coordination with the local authorities from their countries respectively.

Stepping up its efforts to evacuate thousands of Indians stuck in Ukraine, the government on Monday decided to send four Union ministers to the neighbouring countries of the east European nation to coordinate the evacuation process even as the external affairs ministry said nearly 8,000 nationals have returned from the war-hit country in the last fortnight. PTI KR RC