The Indian government has issued an advisory asking its nationals, especially students, to leave the place immediately. According to external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, the students from Lugansk region arrived in Kiev “responding to the advisory to leave the region”.
As per the official sources, there are 4,700 students studying in Ukraine and most of them studying medicine. Around 250 students are pursuing civil aviation engineering. Almost 3,500 Indian students are studying medicine at Luhansk state medical university. There are about 350 from Kerala ,300 are from Tamil Nadu 150 from Andhra Pradesh, 60 from Punjab, 25 each from Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra, 20 from Uttar Pradesh and 10 from Gujarat.
According to Rajiv Kumar Chander, Indian ambassador to Ukraine said, “Our embassy staff has provided help to citizens. The Ukraine government is extending its support for evacuating our people. They have arranged seats in the train from Luhansk to Kiev. Total 1,080 students will be shifted from Luhansk in the next two days.”
The mission arranged 500 train tickets for Tuesday and another 500 tickets for Wednesday for the Indian students and nationals in Lugansk.
Till Tuesday, 50 students reached Kiev. The officials in the embassy reserved 1,000 seats in two trains with the assistance of the Ukraine government.