The pride and glory of ‘Bharat’, the tricolor has become the shield of Indian students in war-torn Ukraine. While there is a frightening atmosphere everywhere in Ukraine, a large number of Indian students are also trapped there. Now in the shadow of the tricolour, they are returning to Bharat safely.
The tricolor has become a protective shield for Indians in Ukraine. Russia has given a word not to take any action against the Indian students. The tricolor flag has been displayed on the buses and other vehicles of the students reaching the borders of other countries. Along with this, a copy of the order of the Government of India has also been pasted.
Seeing the tricolor, the soldiers of the Russian army are showing respect and are sending the students to their destination with safety. The Russian army is also helping in the evacuation of the Indian flag bearers.
Student Ashish Nautiyal while sharing his experience, told that after seeing the Indian flag, the buses are being allowed to go with respect and without obstructions.
Reddy Nomula Satya Sreeja, who is doing her first year course in Medicine, told
“Our university authorities have arranged food for us. We are staying in bunkers. Our institution (Kharkiv National Medical University) is located about 500 km from Kyiv, the capital city, which is targeted by Russia. We are allowed to come out of the bunker and get into the hostel room, but we have to wrap ourselves with the Indian flag for safety.”
Notably, the first batch of Indian students left Chernivtsi in a bus for the Ukraine-Romania border. An Air India plane departed from the Mumbai airport on Saturday morning for the Romanian capital Bucharest to evacuate Indians stranded there. The Embassy of India in Kyiv announced that the evacuation was being organised with the joint effort of the Indian embassies in Romania, Hungary and Poland.
Russia has also praised India’s “independent and balanced” position after Delhi abstained from a UN Security Council vote that deplored Moscow’s “aggression” against Ukraine.
America and other Western countries had brought a resolution of condemnation against Russia for the attack on Ukraine. India abstained from voting on this proposal held late on Saturday night. After which Russia said that it highly appreciates India’s independent and balanced position.
Earlier also Russia had praised India’s policy on tension with Ukraine. On the day of voting, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba had called India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and sought help. To which Jaishankar bluntly said that he emphasized to his Ukrainian counterpart that India supports diplomacy and dialogue to find a solution. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky himself has spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after India was absent from the vote in the UNSC. He has described India’s role in stopping the military action of Russia as important.