India says weekend curfew lifted in Kyiv, advises students to board trains

Amid the ongoing tensions in Ukraine following Russian invasion in the country, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv on Monday said that weekend curfew in the city has been lifted and that all students are advised to make their way to the railway station for onward journey to the western parts in compliance to India's evacuation plans for its nationals stranded there. 

It also added that Ukraine Railways is putting special trains for evacuations.

Kyiv has been under curfew with residents ordered to stay in shelters as Russian forces continued to shell the city's outskirts, although some were still trying to leave despite the curfew.

On the fourth day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the capital was still in Ukrainian government hands, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rallying his people despite Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.

ALSO READ: 4 ministers to go to Ukraine's neighbouring nations to help in evacuation of Indians

Meanwhile, stepping up its efforts to evacuate Indian students, the Centre earlier today decided that Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and V K Singh will travel to its neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission and help students, reported news agency PTI citing government sources.

These ministers will be going there as ''special envoys'' of India, they said.

ALSO READ: Russia-Ukraine war: India explains its UNGA vote to abstain, urges diplomacy

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Several ministers, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, also attended the meeting. Modi had chaired a meeting on the Ukraine crisis on Sunday too and had asserted that ensuring the safety of Indian students and evacuating them is the government's top priority. It was also decided at the meeting to further enhance cooperation with the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to expedite the evacuation of Indian students, sources had said.

Further, Air India's fifth evacuation flight came from Romanian capital Bucharest to Delhi on Monday morning with 249 Indian nationals who were stranded in Ukraine amid the Russian military offensive, officials said. India began evacuation of its citizens from Romania and Hungary — neighbouring countries of Ukraine — from Saturday onwards. 

Tata Group-owned Air India has evacuated a total of 1,156 Indian nationals in five evacuation flights till now. Officials said one more evacuation flight is expected to land in Delhi on Monday.

(With agency inputs)