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HomeWorldRussia, Ukraine open evacuation corridor out of Sumy, all 694 Indian students...

Russia, Ukraine open evacuation corridor out of Sumy, all 694 Indian students leave

After evacuation attempts failed Monday, India expressed its deep concern for stranded students; PM Modi also asked Zelenskyy, Putin to help them leave.

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New Delhi: Ukraine has agreed to only one humanitarian corridor for evacuation among the several that Russia proposed Tuesday – the one out of the northeastern city of Sumy.

Hundreds of Indian students were stranded in Sumy, a matter of “deep concern” for India which has made it clear to both Ukraine and Russia that the students must be evacuated immediately. Sumy has been attacked by land and air in recent days.

As soon as the corridor opened, all 694 Indian students were put on buses to Poltova, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.

“Last night, I checked with the control room, 694 Indian students were remaining in Sumy. Today, they have all left in buses for Poltava,” Puri told reporters.

Earlier, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had said the corridor would lead from Sumy through Holubivka and Lokhvytsia to Poltava in central Ukraine.

“It has been agreed that the first convoy will start at 10 am (0800 GMT) from the city of Sumy. The convoy will be followed by the local population in personal vehicles,” she said in a televised statement.

Vereshchuk said no other route was agreed upon, CNN reported.

Sumy governor Dmitro Zhivitskiy said on video that the first buses had left Sumy for Poltova in the west. He said priority would be the disabled, pregnant women and children.

Presidential advisor Kyrolo Tymoshenko also released a video clip. It showed a red bus with civilians on board.

Previous attempts to evacuate those stranded have failed so far. Russia had offered a ceasefire Monday and opened up humanitarian corridors to help fleeing citizens, but Ukraine rejected this offer because these corridors led to only Russian territory.

Russia held fire again on Tuesday and offered more routes. But most of them still led to Russia and ally Belarus, except Sumy.

An emergency statement by Russia on Tuesday said the corridors would be: “from Kiev and adjacent settlements to the Russian Federation through the territory of the Republic of Belarus to Gomel city… from Chernigov through the territory of the Republic of Belarus to Gomel… from Sumy by two routes to Poltava and to the territory of the Russian Federation to Belgorod… from Kharkov to the territory of the Russian Federation to Belgorod… from Mariupol by two routes to the territory of the Russian Federation to Rostov-on-Don…”

India had raised the issue of stranded students in Sumy at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Monday evening. UN ambassador TS Tirumurti had said India was “deeply concerned that despite our repeated urgings” to both Russia and Ukraine, the “safe corridor for our students stranded in Sumy did not materialise”.

Renish Joseph from Kerala – a student coordinator at Sumy State University – sheltered in the university hostel with his Ukrainian wife and months-old toddler. He told The Guardian some Indian students experienced psychological problems during the seige. “At night, they would start crying or pacing around,” he said.

There was no drinking water and every morning students went out for food “but had to queue for hours outside super markets”, Joseph told the UK paper.


Also read: Russia declares ceasefire, evacuation corridors again lead to Russia, ally Belarus


 

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