It was a rude birthday shock for Insha Mary Stephen, a medical student at Ivano-Frankivsk in war-torn Ukraine, who turned 22 on February 22. The next day the city’s airport was bombed. The only way out was to head to the border — though Poland was closer, she and her fellow students chose to go to Romania. She says the bus ride was so harrowingly slow with traffic blocks everywhere that she and her fellow students found it faster to walk.

At the border, the crowds were humongous, the gates would open only for ten minutes and then be slammed shut. She had to wait hours on end enduring tear-gas and pepper-spray that border forces used to control the crowds before she could dart into Romania. Friends got separated in the melee. It was each to her own.

Insha is now back in Delhi, but it’s a journey she will not forget. India’s ‘Operation Ganga’ is on full swing with the government managing to operate as many as 30 flights evacuating a total of 6,400 Indian citizens since Russia invaded Ukraine and the air space was shut a week ago.

More than 2,000 students are, however, still stuck in conflict zones struggling to make their way out. “My sister and some other Indian students in Kharkiv left their hostel after shells landed next to it, and walked 8 km to the nearest railway station. Only girls were allowed to get into the crowded train which brought them to Lviv where they faced more uncertainty,” said Parvathi Benu, who has been continuously in touch with her sister trying her best to mobilise support from Chennai.

There is a lot of chaos at Lviv, where the Indian Embassy in Ukraine has established a temporary office, said Benu. Her sister got lucky as she managed to get in touch with Indian Embassy officials, but there are many still moving around clueless.

With the Russian attack intensifying on Kharkiv, the job of Indian officials who are trying to expedite the evacuation process has become difficult, said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi at a press conference on Thursday. “It is a dynamic situation. We are in touch with Ukraine and Russian authorities to see how we can evacuate from Kharkiv and Sumi,” he said. A thousand students are in Pechenizhyn, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to discuss the evacuation of Indians from Ukraine. Talking to students and airline personnel, it appears as though some safe corridors have been provided for passage though the weather conditions have rendered the journey hazardous.

Special flights

India has been operating special evacuation flights, including the IAF C-17 Globemaster, and by Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries such as Romania, Hungary, Poland and Belarus. “In addition, a new location has been identified near the Romanian border, the city of Suceava, from where two flights will be operated,” Bagchi said.

It is estimated that around 18,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the initial advisories were issued. This includes some Indians who had not registered with the Indian Embassy in Kyiv previously

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