Centre mulls options to evacuate Indians

New Delhi: The Union government on Thursday night said it was working out various plans to evacuate Indians from Ukraine. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, there were about 18,000 Indians in Ukraine.

It has activated the neighbouring embassies in Hungary and Poland and teams have been sent from Slovakia and Romania to facilitate evacuation of Indians. Camp offices will be set up as facilitation points.

These teams will examine the possibility of facilitating evacuating Indians through their borders. The Indian Embassy will be coordinating with these teams. Registration of Indians by the Indian Embassy has already begun.

The MEA is also consulting various universities over safety of students. About 250 Indians were accommodated in schools near the Indian Embassy since morning.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary for help in evacuating Indians by road and other means. Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force has been kept on standby to airlift Indians.