New Delhi: Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, India on Monday said it was concerned about the students and nationals stranded in Ukraine. The need to be worried arises as humanitarian corridor for evacuation of Indian nationals did not materialise, despite of New Delhi urging Russia as well as Ukraine for such a corridor.
Russian invasion has led to a largest human crisis in decades, for Indians as well as foreigners stuck in Ukraine. Some 700 Indian nationals, many of them medical students at Sumy State University, have been stranded in the eastern Ukrainian city after evacuation efforts failed due to continuous shelling.
“Our Prime Minister once again spoke to the leadership of both sides today [ March 7 ] and reiterated our call for immediate ceasefire and the need for both parties to return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy,” India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UNPR), T.S. Tirumurti, said at a Council meeting to discuss the humanitarian crisis.
“We have also reiterated our urgent demand for safe and uninterrupted passage for all innocent civilians, including Indian nationals, remaining in Ukraine. We are deeply concerned that despite our repeated urgings to both sides, the safe corridor for our students stranded in Sumi did not materialise,” he said.
For this failure of evacuation, both the countries are blaming each other.
At the meet, Tirumurti thanked all the neighboring countries of Ukraine for helping in the evacuation of 20,000 Indian nationals. He also said a special thanks to Secretary General Antonio Guterres. He said, “India welcomed Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s ‘flash appeal’ for Ukraine and his regional refugee response plan. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres had announced, on March 1, a fundraising appeal , calling for $1.1 billion to assist 6 million Ukrainians inside Ukraine over an initial three-month period and a further $551 million to help those who have crossed over into neighboring countries.
“We hope the international community will respond positively to the humanitarian needs,” he said. Tirumurti detailed India’s humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
India is balancing between its strategic interests with Moscow and a West-backed Kyiv. However amid few countries not willing to condemn Russia’s invasion, and this growing human crisis has created a big pressure on India from the United States , for instance – to change its current position.
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