In view of the growing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, Control Rooms are being set up in the Ministry of External Affairs as well as the Indian Embassy in Kyiv are being set up. Confirming this to Financial Express Online, sources say “the control rooms are being set up to respond to the queries of the Indian nationals in that country and their families back home.”
As has been reported earlier, the Embassy of India in Kyiv on Tuesday (Feb 15, 2022) had already issued an advisory urging the Indian citizens including students to keep the mission informed about their whereabouts. In its advisory it had urged the students to consider leaving temporarily.
According to sources the situation is being monitored 24×7 and the mission is aware that the families of the Indian citizens especially the students are concerned about their safety as well as flights to get them back to India.
Flights from Kyiv to India
To increase the number of flights between the two countries, sources say that discussions are going on with the authorities of Civil Aviation as well as other airlines.
How many Indians are there?
There is a small but vibrant Indian community in Ukraine – mostly business professionals and students.
Pre-COVID-19 there were almost 18,000 students pursuing higher studies, especially in the field of medicine, there. Post-COVID 19, after the opening up of borders, the exact number of students there is not known.
The business professionals present there are mainly in various sectors including education, engineering, pharmaceuticals, IT and others.
Meanwhile…
Reports are coming in that Russian troops after completing their drills in Crimea are moving back to their previous positions. According to reports, the Russian Defence Ministry has also shared a video showing the Russian military equipment leaving Crimea.
The US President Joe Biden in a televised address warned that Russian invasion of Ukraine remained a possibility and the reports about pullback of troops are not verified. In his speech he mentioned that the number of Russian troops encircling Ukraine is 1, 50,000.
Cyber attacks hit major banks and websites of the Ukrainian Army
Reports are coming in that around 10 Ukrainian websites of two major banks defence, foreign and culture ministries are unreachable.
A report titled “Russia could target American space firms to blind Ukraine’’ on Breakingdefense.com, a US based portal says since the Crimean conflict in 2014, “The Russian military has routinely jammed GPS in Eastern Ukraine.”
The report goes on to state GPS is often spoofed to disguise the movement of President Vladimir Putin’s around Moscow, by the Russian military.