600 Indians Evacuated From Sumy Reach Poland, Likely To Fly to India Today

They took a convoy of 13 buses to Poltava, from where they took a train to Lviv, and then another train to Poland.

Students of the Sumy State University, located in a town 40 kilometres away from Ukraine’s north-east border.

(Photo: Screenshot)

The last group of Indian students, who were successfully evacuated from Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine, reached Poland on Thursday, 10 March.

The evacuation of around 600 students from Sumy began on the morning of 8 March.

The students were taken from Sumy to Poltava, a city in central Ukraine, in13 buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). From Poltova, they took a train to Lviv in western Ukraine.

Then they took another special train to Poland, from where they are likely to fly to India on Thursday.

"We have reached Poland, from here we are expected to take flight for India," said Jisna Jiji, a medical student, according to a PTI report.

The evacuation was organised by the Indian government and the Indian Embassy in Ukraine, and was carried out under the banner of Operation Ganga.

The students, most of whom study in Sumy State University, were stranded in their hostels for two weeks as Russian forces shelled and bombed the city.

While speaking to The Quint, they had said that airstrikes had hit the water and electricity plants, disrupting the supply of both essential commodities.

Evacuation from Sumy was never an easy task for the government due to the certain factors about the city, such as its location and weather, constant attacks by Russian forces, and the lack of transportation options.

You can read about the challenges regarding the evacuation from Sumy in more detail here.