40 Indian medical students walk 8 km to Poland border to escape war-torn Ukraine
New Delhi/IBNS: Forty Indian students have walked to the Ukraine-Poland border after they were dropped off by their college bus some 8 km from the border, media reports said on Friday.
The students of a medical college in Lviv, 70 km from the border with Poland, are waiting to be evacuated from Ukraine's neighbouring countries.
The Ukrainian airspace has been shut since Russia's attack on Thursday.
There are some 16,000 Indians stranded in Ukraine, mostly students. Many have shared posts on social media from shelters like underground metro stations and basements amid sounds of bombing shells and missile attacks by Russian forces.
As part of the government's rescue plan for stranded Indians in war-hit Ukraine, Air India will operate two evacuation flights to the Romanian capital Bucharest to bring back Indian nationals.
Sources said that the two flights could take off Friday. While one of the two flights is expected to take off from Delhi, the other is scheduled from Mumbai.
The government will make payments to Air India for operating the evacuation flights. "One each flight to Bucharest and Budapest is also scheduled for tomorrow," sources told UNI.
The embassy of India in Budapest has announced that it is working to establish evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary.
On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Vladimir Putin and appealed for an immediate cessation of violence in Ukraine that started after Russia authorized military action against its western neighbour.
PM Modi reiterated his long-standing conviction that the differences between Russia and the NATO group can only be resolved through honest and sincere dialogue.
PM Modi also sensitised the Russian President 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.
A special Air India flight to Kyiv had taken off Thursday but was recalled mid-air following the closure of Ukrainian airspace for civilian flights.
Meanwhile, as part of the government's rescue plan for stranded Indians in war-hit Ukraine, Air India will operate two evacuation flights to the Romanian capital Bucharest to bring back Indian nationals.
Sources said that the two flights could take off Friday. While one of the two flights is expected to take off from Delhi, the other is scheduled from Mumbai.
The government will make payments to Air India for operating the evacuation flights. "One each flight to Bucharest and Budapest is also scheduled for tomorrow," sources told UNI.
The embassy of India in Budapest has announced that it is working to establish evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary.
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