New Delhi, Moscow: The first batch of 500 Indians, mostly students, were leaving violence-hit the Ukrainian city of Lugansk to Kyiv on Tuesday after India made arrangements to evacuate close to 1,000 of its nationals from that city, the biggest such exercise after thousands of Indians were evacuated from Libya in 2011.
The evacuation arrangements were made in cooperation with the Ukrainian government, the Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi.
According to officials, Indian authorities have arranged 500 train tickets. Another 500 tickets have been arranged for Wednesday.
In a letter to the rector of Lugansk State Medical University, Indian ambassador in Kyiv Rajiv K Chander said, “The university authorities may please inform the local administration about the en masse departure of the Indian students so that adequate security arrangements are made to enable them to reach the railway station safely.”
Out of the 1,000 Indian nationals, 350 are from Kerala, 300 from Tamil Nadu, 150 from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 60 from Punjab, 25 each from J&K and Maharas-htra. The rest are from other states.
