PM chairs high-level meet again on war crisis

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Wednesday night on the Ukraine crisis as India stepped up its efforts to evacuate its citizens, mostly students, from the country under attack from Russia. The meeting was attended by Union ministers S Jaishankar and Piyush Goyal, besides foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and national security advisor Ajit Doval.

Modi has held a series of meetings since Sunday to spearhead India's efforts to safely bring back its nationals, asserting that this is his government's top priority.

Earlier in the day, the Indian embassy in Ukraine asked all Indian nationals to leave Kharkiv immediately to safe zones or further westwards. The external affairs ministry has assured that every Indian citizen will be brought back from Ukraine.

The meeting comes hours after the Indian embassy in Ukraine issued a fresh advisory, asking all of its stranded citizens to immediately leave Kharkiv and move to Pesochin, Babaye and Bezlyudovka by 6pm local time. The advisory comes as Russian forces continue to strike Ukraine's second-largest city with missiles.