More than 20,000 Indian nationals have departed Ukraine since the Indian External Affairs Ministry issued its recommendations for citizens to leave the country, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2022) More than 20,000 Indian nationals have departed Ukraine since the Indian External Affairs Ministry issued its recommendations for citizens to leave the country, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said on Friday.
In late February, the Indian embassy in Kiev urged its citizens to temporarily leave Ukraine, citing "tensions and uncertainties" in the country.
"The total number of Indians who have left Ukraine, as per our assessment, since our advisories were issued, is now over 20,000. I too want to mention that, as you know, right in the beginning we had registration of nearly of 20,000, so clearly, as we discussed yesterday, there are more people than registered," Bagchi told reporters.
The spokesman added that another 18 flights have landed in India in the last 24 hours with roughly 4,000 evacuatees, with the total number of flights now being 48, which have brought back about 10,300 people.
"Our estimate is we have about 300 (people) left in Kharkiv ... Moving on to Sumy, I think we have about 700-plus, that's the number we are looking at," Bagchi added.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine last week after the breakaway Donbas republics appealed for help in defending themselves against the Ukrainian military. In response, Western nations have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow.
