Vijayan urges PM to ask Russia to provide safe passage to Indian students

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his urgent intervention to ask the Russian leadership to provide safe passage to the thousands of Indian students trapped in war hit cities of eastern Ukraine.

The CM, in his letter, also said that students in eastern Ukraine, especially in Kharkiv and Sumy, were living in bunkers with food and water supplies running out and requested that urgent steps be taken to provide them food and water through voluntary aid organisations like International Red Cross.

The CM stated that evacuation efforts have so far been focused on Kyiv and western Ukraine, but at the same time the war has intensified in the eastern part of that country.

"The cities of Kharkiv and Sumy are witnessing intense bombings and massive shelling. No clear directions have been issued to the students on what they should do in the midst of this fighting.

"In panic and desperation, many students are trying to flee west on their own with considerable risk to their lives," Vijayan said in the letter.

Incidentally, an Indian student -- Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar -- hailing from Karnataka was killed in the shelling in Kharkiv on Tuesday while he was out buying food.

Meanwhile, in an urgent advisory, the India embassy in Ukraine on Wednesday asked all Indians stranded in Kharkiv to leave the conflict zone immediately.

The embassy asked Indians to proceed to settlements in Pesochin, Babaye and Bezlyudovka as soon as possible.

The Kerala CM, in his letter, also conveyed the state's gratitude for the Union Government's efforts through 'Operation Ganga' which resulted in repatriation of 244 Malayali students.