PM Narendra Modi interacts with students who returned from Ukraine in Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra, a day after speaking to Russia President Vladimir Putin on the situation in Ukraine and sought safe passage for Indians in the country, the PM interacted with students who returned from Ukraine in Varanasi today.

PM Modi's meet with the students comes just before Varanasi will witness high voltage voting in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

During the interaction with PM Modi, the students shared their experiences with him. The students were from Varanasi as well as other parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Notably, Varanasi is the parliamentary constituency of PM Modi and he is present in the city to campaign for Bharatiya Janata Party and chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

A total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in Ukraine.

The students who left Ukraine also included some Indians who had not registered with the Embassy of India in Kyiv previously.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said that 3,726 Indians will be brought back home today by 19 flights from Bucharest, Suceava, Kosice, Budapest, and Rzeszow.

Notably, the American C-17 Globemasters and IL-76 transport aircraft are the most capable of flying to long distances with around 400 passengers. The C-17 transport aircraft had helped in a big way to evacuate citizens and officials from Kabul when the Taliban captured Afghanistan and forced Americans to exit from there.

Meanwhile, India today rejected claims by both Russia and Ukraine that Indian students are being held hostage in the besieged city of Kharkiv, and said it has requested the support of Ukrainian authorities in arranging special trains for taking them out from the city and neighbouring areas.

Yesterday, PM Modi and Vladimir Putin over a telephonic conversation reviewed the Ukraine-Russian war situation, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck, and discussed the safe evacuation of Indian nationals from the conflict areas, an MEA statement said.

(with agency inputs)