Russia-Ukraine conflict: Indian student dies, 22-yr-old from Punjab suffered stroke

Chandigarh/ New Delhi: A 22-year-old student from Punjab's Barnala district who had suffered an Ischemia stroke and was undergoing treatment for about a month died on Wednesday in the war-hit Ukraine.

Chandan Jindal was admitted at the Emergency Hospital Vinnytsia in Ukraine, official sources here said. His family has requested the government to bring back his mortal remains.

Jindal was studying at Vinnytsia National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsia.

Jindal's uncle Krishan Gopal told reporters in Barnala that they had received information about his poor health on February 3 and the authorities in Ukraine had sought the family's approval for performing an operation.

Gopal said he and Chandan's father Shishan Kumar went to Ukraine on February 7. Krishan later returned while Shishan remained in Ukraine with his son.

Barnala Deputy Commissioner of Police wrote to the state's Principal Secretary, Home, for providing assistance to the distressed family.

According to the letter, Chandan "fell ill and was admitted in Emergency Hospital Vinnytsia (Kyivska street 68) ICU suffering from Ischemia stroke in brain (reduced blood supply to brain). The youngster breathed his last today."

Chandan's father has sought the government's help in bringing his son's body to India through an air ambulance from the Siret border, Romania.

On Monday, an Indian student was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv.

Meanwhile, as fighting intensified in Kharkiv, India on Wednesday asked its nationals to leave the second-largest Ukrainian city urgently to three nearby places "even on foot", while

Russia promised to create "humanitarian

corridors" for evacuation of Indians from the conflict zones.

In an urgent advisory, the Indian embassy in Ukraine asked the Indians to reach the Ukrainian towns of Pesochyn, 11 km away from Kharkiv, Babai (12 km) and Bezlyudivka (16 km) by 6 PM local time (9:30 PM IST). The advisory came amid Russia stepping up attacks on key Ukrainian cities.

External Affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that the Indian embassy asked the nationals to leave Kharkiv immediately on the basis of information from the Russian side.

"The students who cannot find vehicles or buses and are in Railway station can proceed on foot to Pesochyn, Babai and Bezlydivka," the advisory, second of the day, said.

"Proceed immediately. Under all circumstances, Indians must reach these settlements by 1800 hours (Ukrainian time) today," it said.

It is learnt that the Russian side informed India about the possible increase in intensity in fighting in Kharkiv and suggested that all Indians should leave the city.

While the first advisory was put out on Twitter at around 1:40 pm (5 PM IST) the second one was issued at around 2:40 pm (6 PM IST).

Bagchi said India is also exploring the option of reaching the eastern part of Ukraine to help in the evacuation of Indian nationals but added that it's not easy as the route is not open at all times.

Separately, Russian Ambassador-designate Denis Alipov said Russia is in touch with Indian authorities on the issue of Indians stuck in Kharkiv, Sumy and in the areas northeast of Ukraine which are witnessing intense conflict.

As India shored up efforts to evacuate its citizens, four C-17 17 Globemaster aircraft of the Indian Air Force with approximately 800 evacuees from Ukraine are slated to land at the Hindon airbase on Thursday, sources said.

On Wednesday morning, a C-17 aircraft left for Romania carrying humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

At the media briefing, Bagchi said the cities in eastern Ukraine remained areas of concern and that some Indian students were able to board trains out of Kharkiv on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

He said that there has been a sharp increase in the number of Indians who have left Ukraine over the recent past.

"We now estimate that nearly 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine's borders since our advisories were issued. This of course includes some Indians who had not registered with the embassy earlier," Bagchi said.

Earlier, the MEA had said that 20,000 Indians were in Ukraine when India had issued the first advisory in mid-February when the tension between Russia and Ukraine started building up.

About the evacuation mission, Bagchi said flights under 'Operation Ganga' have increased sharply and that six flights have landed in India in the last 24 hours taking the total to 15.

He said the total number of Indians

who have returned on board these flights is 3,352. Out of these, 1,796 were evacuated through Romania, 430 through Poland and 1126 through Hungary.

The Indian government had issued advisory to Indian nationals before February 24, asking them to leave Ukraine if it wasn't essential for them to stay on, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said here on Wednesday.

Urging parents not to panic, he said of 20,000 Indians stranded in Ukraine following the Russian invasion, 6,000 have been brought back safely, and the government is making all efforts to ensure safe return of the rest.

The minister, who met the parents of some students who are stuck in Ukraine here, was speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of an event. Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiraditya Scindia and V K Singh were in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Poland respectively to coordinate evacuation efforts.

Meanwhile, more than 600 Indian students are currently stranded in a university located in Sumy, a city in north-eastern Ukraine, hoping that they will soon be evacuated as "continuous firing and bombing" by the Russian forces has left them completely terrified, one of the students said.

Not a single Indian student from Sumy State University, located close to the Russian border has been evacuated so far, Viraj Walde, who hails from Nagpur in Maharashtra and who is currently studying in the fourth year medical course in that university, said over phone on Wednesday.

"More than 600 Indian students are stuck here in Sumy university. The embassy has neither evacuated us nor given any assurance to that effect. Since the last five days, there has been continuous firing, shelling and bombing in the city," he said.

Their final exams were about to start from March 15, he said. "But now, the students are terrified and their mental state is deteriorating. Food and drinking water supplies are depleting. Even the banks and ATMs are running out of cash," he said.