Sheikh Hasina thanks Modi for evacuating Bangladeshi nationals from Ukraine

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for evacuating her nine citizens from Ukraine's Sumy under 'Operation Ganga', government sources said here.

The nine Bangladeshi nationals, who were stuck in northeastern city Sumy, were evacuated along with 694 Indians brought to Poltava city in Ukraine.

They will be brought back to India along with the other Indian nationals from Poland on Wednesday or Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Indian authorities started evacuating its stranded students from Sumy to Poltava after Russia announced a temporary ceasefire from 10 a.m. providing humanitarian corridors in Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol.

The human corridor in Sumy was announced after Prime Minister Modi spoke to the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia to provide a safe passage to evacuate remaining Indian students who were stuck in North Eastern city Sumy.

On March 7, Prime Minister Modi spoke to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and requested them to provide safe passage to evacuate remaining Indian nationals stuck in the war-torn country.

Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv on Tuesday asked the remaining Indian nationals to leave Ukraine's capital city using the 'Humanitarian Corridor' by any available means of transport.

The advisory issued by the Indian Embassy on Wednesday said that considering the security situation, the next 'Humanitarian Corridor' is uncertain, therefore, they should move out of the city immediately.

Considering the security situation, establishment of the next humanitarian corridor is uncertain, the advisory further said.

The officials also informed that while the two Union Ministers and Special Envoy Hardeep Singh Puri and Gen V.K. Singh returned to New Delhi, the other two Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Jyotiraditya Scindia are still in Slovakia and Romania to oversee the evacuations of remaining Indian nationals.

--IANS

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