The View from India | Caught in a conflict

Thousands of Indian students have been caught in the middle of the crisis in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, and concerns are growing for those still awaiting evacuation. As of Sunday (March 6) India had brought back 15,920 nationals on 76 flights under the evacuation mission ‘Operation Ganga’. However, around 700 students were still trapped in Sumy, where a ceasefire was announced on Monday (March 7) to enable their evacuation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke separately to both Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday (March 7) afternoon, urging direct negotiations as well as assistance to enable civilian evacuations.

The Government of India this weekend said it was “deeply concerned” about the students trapped in Sumy on the frontline of the war, with nearly 600-700 students at the Sumy State University spending the last 10 days holed up in bunkers at their hostel.

The Hindu’s Jagriti Chandra spoke to some of them. “There is no water, no food, no electricity for the past two days and the bombings keep getting worse every passing day. Often bombs land a few hundred metres away from us,” said Zara Azan.

We reported on other harrowing stories of those who managed to leave. One Indian computer techie and his family showed exemplary valour to rescue a couple and their two-month-old child from Kyiv by helping them in gruelling cold weather and a tiring three-day journey back to motherland. The software professional, Baroon Varma, and his wife Smita Sinha, comforted, provided food and ensured the safety of the Bankda family from Mumbai in a journey which neither of these families had ever dreamt of.

S. Vijay Kumar tells the story of Charan Raj, a third-year medical college student in Kharkiv, and his arduous journey to Lviv. The 20-year-old student from Madurai told us about his 72-hour run-up towards taking the last train to freedom.

While India’s focus has been on evacuating its citizens, on the diplomatic front, New Delhi has continued with abstaining on UN resolutions. On Thursday, India, once again, abstained as the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted 141-5 (35 abstentions) to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling on Moscow to unconditionally withdraw its troops.