Indian Embassy in Kyiv issues urgent evacuation advisory

The Indian embassy in Ukraine has advised its nationals to leave the capital city Kyiv "urgently today" amid the deteriorating security situation due to the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

"Advisory to Indians in Kyiv: All Indian nationals, including students, are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today. Preferably by available trains or through any other means available," the Indian embassy in Ukraine tweeted.

This advisory comes as satellite images have emerged showing a long convoy of Russian military vehicles snaking along roadways northwest of Kyiv. Hundreds of tanks, towed artillery, armoured and logistical vehicles can be seen in the image released by a US-based space technology company.

About 8000 Indian nationals have left since the country issued the initial advisories, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

"Evacuation efforts on Ukraine situation on the ground continue to be complex and fluid, some of them quite concerning, but we've been able to accelerate evacuation process. Over 8000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since we issued the initial advisories," the MEA spokesperson said during a media briefing.

He also informed that the six evacuation flights have landed in India, bringing back over 1400 citizens under Operation Ganga.

In order to scale up the ongoing evacuation efforts under 'Operation Ganga', Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the Indian Air Force to join the evacuation efforts.

Meanwhile, Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri is en route to Budapest in Hungary to aid the evacuation of Indian citizens stranded in war-hit Ukraine.

(ANI)