Despite repeated requests, no safe corridor for students stuck in Sumi: India tells UNSC
Highlight
- TS Tirumurti said, “India has been calling for an immediate end to all hostilities.”
- He said that India has reiterated its urgent demand for safe and uninterrupted passage of citizens.
- TS Tirumurti speaking at UN Security Council meeting on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine
India, which has managed to safely repatriate over 20,000 of its citizens from Ukraine amid the ongoing war, said it is “deeply concerned” that despite repeated requests from both Russia and Ukraine, Sumi There was no safe corridor for the stranded Indian students. put into effect.
India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations TS Tirumurti told the UN Security Council meeting on Monday on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, “India has been calling for an immediate end to all hostilities.”
He said India reiterated its urgent demand for safe and unhindered passage for all innocent citizens, including Indian citizens, living in Ukraine.
“We are deeply concerned that despite repeated requests from both sides, a safe corridor for our students stranded in Sumi has not been created,” Tirumurti said.
Tirumurti said that India has managed to help in the safe return of over 20,000 Indians from Ukraine.
“We have also assisted citizens of other countries, who contacted us, to return to their respective countries. And we will be prepared to do so in the coming days.”
The Indian envoy told the council that more than 80 evacuation flights are crossing the skies to bring Indian citizens home.
“We appreciate the assistance provided by the authorities of Ukraine and its neighboring countries in facilitating their return.”
Around 700 Indian students are stranded in Sumi, which has been witnessing intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops for the past few days.
India has been making efforts to evacuate its civilians from the city but with little success due to heavy shelling and air strikes.
To evacuate its citizens from war-torn Ukraine, the Indian government has launched ‘Operation Ganga’, under which thousands of stranded people, mostly students, have been evacuated from countries bordering Ukraine’s western borders. However, evacuation from the eastern side remains a challenge.
Tirumurti underlined that it is important that humanitarian action is always guided by the principles of humanitarian aid – humanity, neutrality, fairness and independence. “They should not be politicised.
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia told the UN Security Council last week that Ukrainians were “forcefully” detaining more than 3,700 Indian nationals in Kharkiv and Sumy, and that buses from Russia were ready and would allow these Ukrainians. Waiting at the crossing point for City to evacuate Indian students and other foreign nationals.
“Terrorists do not allow civilians to leave the city. This affects not only Ukrainians, but also foreigners.
“The number of foreign nationals held by Ukrainians forcibly is staggering. Kharkov – 3189 citizens of India, 2700 citizens of Vietnam, 202 citizens of China. Sumi – 576 citizens of India, 101 citizens of Ghana, 121 nationals of China ,” Nebenzia had said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted on Sunday that it is “absolutely necessary” to establish a pause in fighting in Ukraine to allow the safe passage of civilians from Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy, as well as all other places implicated in conflict, And to ensure that life-saving humanitarian supplies can go ahead for those who are left.
In a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his deep concern for the safety of Indian students living in Sumy.
“President Putin briefed the Prime Minister about the ongoing measures relating to humanitarian corridors to facilitate the evacuation of citizens, including Indian students,” an official release in New Delhi said.
Modi also suggested that direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “could greatly help the ongoing peace efforts.”
In conversation with Zelensky, Modi expressed deep concern over the ongoing conflict and the resulting humanitarian crisis. Modi thanked the Ukrainian authorities for facilitating the evacuation of over 20,000 Indian nationals from Ukraine. Modi stressed the need for quick and safe evacuation of students stranded in Ukraine.
Tirumurti told the council that in his talks with the leadership of both sides, Modi “reiterated our call for an immediate ceasefire and the need for both sides to return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy.”
Tirumurti said the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has so far claimed many lives, including a young Indian student.
“India mourns his passing and we express our deepest condolences to his family, just as we mourn the loss of every civilian life in the conflict.”
In the first Indian casualty in the war in Ukraine, Naveen Shekharappa Gyangoudar, a fourth-year medical student at the Kharkiv National Medical University in Karnataka, was killed in a gunfight in the city of Kharkiv.
Tirumurti said the deteriorating situation in Ukraine and the subsequent humanitarian crisis “deserved our immediate and immediate attention”.
According to the United Nations’ own estimates, 1.5 million refugees have sought asylum in Ukraine’s neighboring countries in the past 11 days, he said.
“This has created a serious humanitarian crisis that needs to be addressed expeditiously,” he said.
(with inputs from PTI)
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