India heaves sigh of relief as 700 students leave beleaguered Sumy

NEW DELHI: In a huge relief for India, all its students trapped in

Ukraine

's

Sumy

moved out of the city through a Humanitarian Corridor on Tuesday, a day after a localised ceasefire announced by the Russians collapsed and fierce fighting resumed, blocking their exit to safety.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the students were being taken to Poltava, some 175 km south of Sumy, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine.

"Happy to inform that we have been able to move out all Indian students from Sumy. They are currently en route to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine," Bagchi tweeted.

Nearly 700 Indian students in Sumy had waged a doughty battle in bomb shelters and basements of their hostels in frigid weather, low on food, drinking water and other essential supplies over the last several days as Russian forces clobbered the city with rockets and heavy gunfire.

"Flights under Operation Ganga are being prepared to bring them home," Bagchi said but did not specify from which border point and when will they be evacuated from Ukraine to board flights for their return to India.

The MEA spokesperson also posted a video on Twitter showing Indian students having refreshments in the backdrop of parked buses.

Efforts to evacuate the students from Sumy had failed on Monday as a tenuous ceasefire declared by the Russians crumbled shortly after getting underway.

Many students, who had boarded the buses for their journey to Poltava, were asked to disembark, as the ceasefire failed to take hold.

"The evacuation from Sumy has started. There was finally some good news on Tuesday. All Indian students will be evacuated from Sumy on Tuesday itself. They will be taken to a safe location from where they will be brought to India," said Anshad Ali, a student coordinator.

"We stood in a queue for three hours in freezing cold on Monday, waiting to board the buses and then, we were told that we cannot go. Thankfully, we have left Sumy. I am hoping that we will be in a safe zone soon," medical student Aashiq Hussain Sarkar told PTI, as fatigued students began the trip to Poltava, leaving behind broken and charred buildings and smouldering pieces of weaponry destroyed in war.

The Indian embassy in Ukraine issued an advisory urging all stranded Indian nationals to make use of the "humanitarian corridor" and evacuate using trains, vehicles or any other available means of transport keeping in mind their safety.

Considering the security situation, establishment of the next humanitarian corridor is uncertain, the advisory said.

"All stranded Indian nationals are urged to make use of this opportunity and evacuate using trains/vehicles or any other available means of transport giving due consideration to safety," it said.

Earlier in the day, Union minister Hardeep Singh 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."

Tuesday's developments followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy a day before on ways to start the stalled evacuation process of the students from Sumy, battered by ceaseless Russian bombardment.

India has brought back over 17,100 of its nationals from Ukraine so far.

Two civilian flights from Suceava in Romania airlifted 410 Indians nationals to India on Tuesday, the civil aviation ministry said.

The Indian mission in Ukraine said it has evacuated 52 of the 75 Indian sailors stranded at the Port of Mykolaiv in the war-torn nation.

"Mission intervened to evacuate 75 Indian sailors stranded in Mykolaiv Port. Yesterday buses arranged by Mission evacuated total of 57 sailors including 2 Lebanese & 3 Syrians," the Indian Embassy in Ukraine said in a tweet.

"Route constraints precluded evacuation of balance 23 sailors. Mission is attempting their evacuation today," it said.