By Abhirup Roy and Alasdair Pal
MUMBAI (Reuters) – India is focusing on evacuating its 16,000 nationals still stuck in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Harsh Vardhan Shringla said late on Thursday, after Russian forces mounted a mass assault by land, air and sea on the former Soviet republic.
Teams of Indian foreign ministry officials have been sent to Ukraine’s land borders with Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania to provide assistance to any fleeing Indian nationals, Shringla told a press briefing.
Ukrainian forces were battling Russian invaders around nearly all of the country’s perimeter on Thursday as missiles rained down on cities including the capital Kyiv, in the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin later on Thursday, Shringla added.
“The prime minister has conveyed … that the topmost priority of the government is the safety and security of Indian nationals, including Indian students, and their evacuation from Ukraine,” he said.
Around 4,000 Indians have already been evacuated since the government set up repatriation efforts a month ago, he added.
Indian government advisories call on Indians to find shelter or if possible to attempt to leave the country by land, he said, after Ukraine shut its airspace and evacuation flights were suspended.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy and Alasdair Pal; Editing by Alison Williams and Gareth Jones)
