Indian student trying to escape Kyiv, wounded in firing: Union Minister

Kyiv: An Indian student has been reportedly shot in the Ukraine capital Kyiv; Indian Union Minister VK Singh said on Thursday, days after one more student died in Russian shelling in the city of Kharkiv.

As per the statement of Union Minister Singh, “The student was in an attempt to escape Kyiv and was wounded in the firing. He was reportedly taken back into Kyiv and is in hospital.

The Indian Union Minister Singh, who was at Poland’s Rzeszow airport, released the information, said, “We heard about the reports that a student leaving Kyiv was shot. He was taken back into Kyiv and was immediately rushed to the hospital. This is happening in the fighting.”

On Tuesday, one of Indian student was killed in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, when he was standing in a queue outside of a grocery store. 21-year-old Naveen Shekharappa of Karnataka had stepped out to stock up on food before taking the train out of the city.

The Minister stressed that the Indian government is already performing its best to assure that more and more number of students can come out of Ukraine with as less loss as possible. The Minister said around 1,700 students are still waiting to be evacuated from Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia last Thursday.

General VK Singh is one among the four ministers that have been sent as special envoys to Ukraine’s neighbouring nations to oversee the evacuation of Indians from war-hit Ukraine.

General Singh was quoted as saying, “The Indian embassy had earlier clarified that everyone should leave Kyiv as soon as possible. Amid the war, the gun bullet does not look at anyone’s religion and nationality.”

Meanwhile, thousands of students are already trying to escape Ukraine by somehow reaching the borders. They can easily cross over to nations from where they could be easily flown back to India via evacuation flights under “Operation Ganga.”

As per the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, around 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukrainian borders since advisories were issued. Over 6,000 have been flown back to homes, as per the ministry.