Some universities actively discouraged students from leaving Ukraine: EAM Jaishankar

Jaishankar said that there was a natural reluctance to leave educational institutions as that would affect their studies.

Union Minister for External Affairs, S Jaishankar

Despite our efforts, however, a large majority of students elected to continue staying in Ukraine, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Parliament today while speaking on the evacuation of Indian students from war-hit Ukraine.

Jaishankar said that there was a natural reluctance to leave educational institutions as that would affect their studies. He also said that some universities actively discouraged and showed reluctance to offer online courses.

There were allegations levelled against Indian Embassy in Kyiv for acting late in informing students to leave Ukraine which caused the delay in the entire evacuation process. Speaking about this, he said that as tensions increased, Indian Embassy in Ukraine started a registration drive for Indians in Jan 2022. “As a result, around 20,000 Indians registered. Most Indian nationals were students pursuing medical studies in Ukrainian universities dispersed throughout the country,” EAM said.

Jaishankar said that around 22,500 Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine during Operation Ganga.

He also informed the Parliament that around half of the Indian student population in Ukraine was based at universities in the eastern half of the country, which he called the "epicentre" of the conflict.

Minister said that 1000 students each hailed from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. “Around 4000 Indians departed from Ukraine by direct/indirect flights till 23rd Feb,” EAM informed.

Sumy evacuation most complex

S Jaishankar informing the Parliament about the evacuation of over 700 Indian students from Sumy said that Sumy evacuation was extremely complex as students faced the prospect of being caught in the crossfire.

“Their evacuation from the city needed a credible ceasefire. This finally materialised due to the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself with the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia,” EAM said.

PM Modi deputed four Union Ministers as special envoys to Romania, Hungary, Slovak Republic and Poland to facilitate Operation Ganga. This included Jyotiraditya Scindia to Romania, Kiren Rijiju to the Slovak Republic, Hardeep Singh Puri to Hungary & Gen VK Singh to Poland.

PM Modi spoke to Presidents of Russia and Ukraine on multiple occasions. EAM said: “He took up the issue of safe evacuation of Indians, especially from Kharkiv and Sumy. PM spoke to PMs of Romania, Slovak Republic, Hungary&Pres of Poland to seek support for facilitation of entry of Indians to their countries.”

Under Operation Ganga, 90 flights have been operated out of which 76 were civilian flights and 14 were IAF flights. The evacuation flights were from Romania, Poland, Hungary & Slovakia.

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