Parents of some students, stranded in Ukraine amid Russian military operations, have urged the Indian government to evacuate their children from there at the earliest as the situation becomes tense.
Speaking to ANI, some parents reached the Russian embassy in New Delhi today and held a demonstration raising concerns over the ongoing military operations in Ukraine and the safety of children.
"We request our government that stranded children should safely be escorted to borders of Ukraine from where they can come back. Due to the current situation, we are yet to figure out how these students will be brought to the border," Renu Gupta, mother of a student stranded in Ukraine told ANI.
She further said the children do not have enough to eat and drink. "They are serving on whatever they were left with and are sharing amongst themselves," Renu said.
Pramod Gupta, a father whose daughter is stranded in Ukraine, outside Russian Embassy in Delhi, said, "My daughter is a second-year medical student in Kharkiv. We tried booking flight tickets but they were booked within minutes."
He further said be it the Russian government or the Indian government, "We want them to evacuate our children safely."
"The universities there have switched to offline classes. They have also told students that if they miss classes, a penalty will be imposed. They are creating a psychological fear," Gupta said.
He said that his daughter is in a bunker while there is shelling outside.
Larisa, a Russian, told ANI, "I have come here to tell people that I am Russian and I don't want this war. I want peace across the world. I don't want people to die or any bomb to explode."
She said she want all those stuck in Ukraine to be safe and expressed hope that they return to India and other countries.
Savita Singh, whose daughter is in Ukraine, said, "They have to run to bunkers whenever the shelling happens. That's when food becomes an issue. My daughter is not able to sleep. Water is also an issue there."
"I have asked my daughter to only eat as much that will let you survive. I have asked her to stretch her 4 days meal for 10 days. Her life needs to be saved," Singh said as she broke into tears.
Speaking toover a video call, a student in Kharkiv said, "We were escorted to bunkers after the shelling took place. We ourselves got our blankets and food to eat. We ran out of water in dispensers. Yesterday, we filled all the bottles we had. There is one tap at the metro that has running water for 24 hours."
According to sources, the central government will arrange evacuation flights for Indian nationals in Ukraine.
The sources further said that the cost will be completely borne by the government for this evacuation.
"Two flights for Bucharest today and one flight for Budapest for tomorrow are being planned to be operated as GOI chartered flights," the sources said.
Ukraine closed its airspace after Russia launched a military operation against it.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has sent teams to the land borders with Ukraine in Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic and Romania to assist the evacuation of Indian nationals.A number of explosions were heard in the capital city of Ukraine as the Russian special military operation entered the second day, local media reported on Friday.
In his telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sensitised him about India's concerns regarding the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine, especially students, and conveyed that India attaches the highest priority to their safe exit and return to India.
( With inputs from ANI )
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