At Least 21 Killed In Russian Air Strike On Sumy; All 694 Indians Have Left The City, Says Govt
The news of the renewed air assault by Russia came hours after India began evacuating some 694 students who were stranded in the city for days.
The Ukrainian city of Sumy which was the focal point for India in the past few days has come under an intense airstrike from Russia on Monday, local time.
According to AFP, at least 21 people have been killed in the northeastern city close to the Russian border.
"The bodies of 21 people, including two children" were found at the site of Monday's strikes, the regional public prosecutor said on Facebook. A previous toll given by the emergency services was nine dead.
Reuters
The news of the renewed air assault by Russia came hours after India began evacuating some 694 students who were stranded in the city for days.
Indian students leave Sumy
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that all Indian students, who were stranded in Sumy, have left for Poltava in buses.
"Last night, I checked with the control room, 694 Indian students were remaining in Sumy. Today, they have all left in buses for Poltava," Puri said.
A medical student at the Sumy university also confirmed to PTI that buses have arrived and students have started boarding the buses.
Screengrab
"We have been told that we will go to Poltava. I am praying that we reach a safe zone and this misery is over," he was quoted as saying by PTI.
Green corridor to Poltova
The students were shifted as part of the evacuation of civilians from Sumy and the town of Irpin near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv through a green corridor to Poltova, a city in central Ukraine.
The foreign ministry of Ukraine tweeted a video of the evacuation of Sumy citizens, saying "We call on Russia to agree on other humanitarian corridors in Ukraine".
We have already started the evacuation of civilians from Sumy to Poltava, including foreign students.
¡ª MFA of Ukraine ?? (@MFA_Ukraine) March 8, 2022
We call on Russia to agree on other humanitarian corridors in Ukraine.#Ukraine #StopRussianAggression pic.twitter.com/pmjhHLkIrH
The first convoy with evacuated civilians in buses or private cars is to leave at 10 am local time, on a single route toward the Ukrainian city of Poltava.
The students have been waiting for evacuation for days.
On Monday too efforts to evacuate the Indian students were made, but it had to be called off after the ceasefire was violated.
Photo shared by students
The plight of the stranded Indian students was revealed after they posted several videos on Twitter stating that they were fast running out of food and water in the biting cold.
In some of the videos, they were also seen collecting and melting snow to drink water.
The nearly 700 Indian students, along with others from Africa and China were stuck in Sumy as the city is closer to the Russian border and evacuations were not being carried out from there.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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