In the latest development from the embattled Sumy, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Tuesday, 8 March, that all Indian students stranded in the Ukrainian city had boarded buses for Poltava – a city in central Ukraine.
As per a tweet by MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, the students will get onboard trains heading to the western part of the country.
Speaking to reporters, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had earlier 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."
Meanwhile, in a video statement, the governor of the Sumy region Dmytro Zhyvytsky indicated that a second round of civilian evacuations would begin in Sumy at around 1100 GMT (4:30 pm Indian Standard Time).
Issuing an advisory on Tuesday, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine urged people to "make use of this opportunity and evacuate using trains/vehicles or any other means of transport available".
The Russian Embassy in India had earlier declared a ceasefire, saying that it was ready to set up humanitarian corridors in order to conduct humanitarian operations from 12:30 pm, provided that the Ukrainian side agreed.
This comes a day after a safe corridor for Indian students stranded in Sumy did not materialise, as Ukraine on Monday rejected Russia's proposal for a humanitarian corridor, for the routes supposedly led to Russia and Belarus.
With this rejection, Russia continued its attack in violation of the ceasefire.
The humanitarian corridor on Tuesday has been provided from Sumy by "two routes to Poltava and to the territory of the Russian Federation to Belgorod – then by air, rail and road transport to selected destinations or temporary accommodation, in the southern direction – in agreement with the Ukrainian side."
The other routes are from:
From Kyiv and adjacent settlements to the Russian Federation through the territory of the Republic of Belarus to Gomel city with delivery by air to the Russian Federation.
From Chernigov through Belarus to Gomel with delivery by air transport to the Russian Federation, in the southern direction.
From Kharkiv to the territory of the Russian Federation to Belgorod – then by air, rail, and road transport to selected destinations or temporary accommodation, to Lviv, Uzhgorod, Ivano-Frankivsk.
From Mariupol by two routes to the territory of the Russian Federation to Rostov-on-Don through Novoazovsk and Taganrog cities, then to Zaporozhye.
Further, the Russian embassy has asked that there should be continuous communication between the Russian and Ukrainian sides for the mutual exchange of information on the preparation and implementation of the evacuation of civilians and foreign citizens.
The embassy added, "Without the participation of Ukraine, the Russian side has managed to withdraw 1,73,773 people from the areas of the special military operation from the Lugansk and Donetsk people's republics, Ukraine to the Russian Federation territory, including 44,187 children, as well as 19,969 personal vehicles."
The mayor of Sumy, Alexander Lysenko, with the commander of the national battalion, had earlier announced that there "will be no green corridors, not a single civilian will go to Russia, and those who try to do this will be shot."
Meanwhile, Indian students on Monday were asked by authorities to rush back to their bunkers as shelling resumed. The buses for their evacuation had to leave without them.
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