NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday, met President Ram Nath Kovind and briefed him on several issues including the developments related to Ukraine, government sources said.
The meeting comes at a time when the government has stepped up its efforts to evacuate Indian citizens from Ukraine. On Monday, the government deputed four union ministers to visit Ukraine's neighbouring countries as 'special envoys' and coordinate the evacuation process.
India decided to send aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri, law and justice minister Kiren Rijiju, and junior aviation minister V.K. Singh to these countries, following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Scindia will oversee evacuation in Romania and Moldova, Rijiju in Slovakia, Puri in Hungary, and Singh in Poland.
Taking to Twitter, Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday morning: "All set to bring back our young students back home safely. Enroute to #Budapest with a refuelling stop in Istanbul with the ever efficient 6E boys & girls."
In another high-level meeting on Monday evening Modi said the entire government machinery is working round-the-clock to ensure that all Indian nationals there are safe and secure, according to a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs. He was of the view that the visit of senior ministers as his special envoys to these neighbouring nations will energise the evacuation efforts.
He also spoke to the Prime Ministers of Romania and Slovak Republic on Monday and appreciated their support in India's evacuation efforts.
Further, India would also send relief supplies to the war-torn country. According to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the first consignment of relief supplies to Ukraine to deal with the humanitarian situation on Ukraine’s borders are scheduled to be despatched on Tuesday.
Modi also announced that India will help people from neighbouring countries and developing countries who are stranded in Ukraine and may seek assistance.
During his calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, Modi had raised concerns about the safety and security of Indian citizens in the war zone.
Around 8,000 Indians have left the country since the first advisory was issued earlier this month before the conflict began, the government said. However, thousands more are stuck at the borders and also in key cities such as Kyiv and Kharkiv, it said.
Ukraine’s state-run universities, which provide quality medical education at relatively lower costs, are a major draw for students from India. There are around 18,095 Indian students in Ukraine and in 2020, 24% of its overseas students were from India, according to the country’s ministry of education and science.
Several states, including Rajasthan, Kerala, and Punjab have urged the Centre to speed up evacuation.
The evacuation mission has been named 'Operation Ganga'. The Union Minister for External Affairs, S. Jaishankar on Tuesday morning took to Twitter to announce that the ninth flight under the operation has left Bucharest, the capital of Romania with 218 Indians.
"We will not rest till our fellow Indians are safe. Ninth #OperationGanga flight departs Bucharest for New Delhi with 218 Indian nationals," he tweeted.
