Chief Justice of India NV Ramana today expressed anguish at the situation Indian students stranded in Ukraine in the midst of Russian invasion, but said it cannot ask President Vladmir Putin to stop the war. The CJI-led bench was hearing a plea seeking directions to the Centre to evacuate Indian students stuck in Ukraine. The matter came up before the Chief Justice and was mentioned by senior advocate AM Dar.

“This is a fresh plea regarding evacuation of Indians in Ukraine border (Romania). Most are girls,” said the lawyer. To this, CJI Raman said, “We sympathise with the students, we are feeling very bad. But can we direct Russia’s President Putin to stop the war?” said CJI Ramana.

The lawyer added that students have been waiting for evacuation in freezing temperature for six days now. The bench said that the Government of India is already involved in evacuation efforts to rescue students stuck in Ukraine. The apex court then asked the lawyer to wait and said that the Bench will seek the assistance of Attorney General KK Venugopal on the matter.

The Central government has sent its four ministers to countries bordering Ukraine to assist in the evacuation of Indian nationals. “Under Operation Ganga, 3726 Indians will be brought back home today on 8 flights from Bucharest, 2 flights from Suceava, 1 flight from Kosice, 5 flights from Budapest and 3 flights from Rzeszow,” informed Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The Indian Air Force has been pressed into the mission to help expedite the evacuation process. The IAF will be operating three more flights today to various locations in the neighbourhood of Ukraine to evacuate Indian citizens.

The Ministry of External Affairs today said that Indian Embassy in Ukraine is in continuous touch with Indian nationals there. “We note that with the cooperation of the Ukrainian authorities, many students have left Kharkiv yesterday. We have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student,” said the MEA after Russia claimed that Ukrainian soldiers have taken hostage of Indian students to use them as human shields.