India Rushes To Rescue Students From Ukraine Following Reports Of Mistreatment

India has dispatched a high-level ministerial team to oversee rescue operations following reports of mistreatment of Indian students in war-torn Ukraine.

Under the government's Operation Ganga mission, India has so far managed to evacuate nearly 6,000 students from Ukraine, while 14,000 still remain in the war-ravaged nation.

With calls for urgent evacuation from Indian students and parents intensifying, India has decided to dispatch senior ministers to Ukraine's neighboring countries.

The decision to send four union ministers -- Hardeep Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiradtiya Scindia, and General (retd) V K Singh -- was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They will head to Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, and Poland.

The "entire government machinery is working round-the-clock to ensure that all Indian nationals there are safe and secure," a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.

Indian students had made desperate appeals for help, sharing videos on social media platforms from underground bunkers and bomb shelters, where they had taken shelter.

One video which was managed more than a million views on YouTube showed an Indian mother soothing her daughter in Kyiv from the southern city of Bangalore.

In the footage, student Shreya Sunil Kumar claims she can hear bombings and gunfire from the bunker

As official channels of communication were disrupted, students struggled without food, water and were unable to withdraw money from ATMs.

They also alleged that after India announced the advisory to leave Ukraine on Feb. 14, the flight ticket has more than doubled to $1,000 from $400 earlier.

Distressed Indian parents have been seeking swift action and holding protest marches in various Indian cities with slogans like "Get Our Children Home."

Local TV channels reported that Indian students are harassed and beaten by Ukrainian border guards and barred from crossing into Poland.

After multiple reports on the safety of the Indian students appeared, an exasperated Ukrainian ambassador to India Igor Polikha held a press met Feb. 28 where he said Ukraine was doing everything possible to facilitate the exit of Indian nationals, especially students.

"It's a war, it's a deep crisis... I can assure that the Ukrainian side is helpful to everyone who is trying to leave the territory," Polikha told a news briefing at the embassy.

"The main assurances should be given by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to the Indian students," Polikha added on Feb. 28, while making fun of the Russian President, who invaded the neighboring nation Feb. 24.

Many Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine claimed that India's abstention at the Security Council meeting has caused harassment and hostility at the hands of Ukrainian officials.

However, Polikha ruled out discrimination and racism against Indian students by government officials.

India along with the UAE abstained Feb. 25 from voting on a UN Security Council resolution that "deplores in the strongest terms" Russia's attack of a sovereign state.

Russia is India's closest security partner and New Delhi buys billions of dollars of sophisticated weapons from Russia per year.

There were instances when Ukraine failed to support India at UN platforms. Ukraine was one of those countries that had opposed India's nuclear tests in 1998 and voted in favor of UN Resolution 1172 that had condemned the nuclear tests by India. Ukraine had also voted YES for UN interference in the vexed Kashmir issue.

The Indians are passing through a difficult time as Ukrainian air space remains closed for civilian flights. An alternate train route from Uzhhorod in western Ukraine to Budapest and a new route through Moldova have also been identified.

So far, six flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Bucharest in Romania and Budapest in Hungary have brought back 1,396 nationals.

Ukraine housed 12,000 Indians as of Feb. 28 and around 2,000 have left via border crossings with Hungary and Romania after facing problems and long delays at the Polish border.