European Council President Charles Michel on Tuesday said that he had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which he condemned and expressed grief on the loss of life of an Indian student who was unfortunately killed in Ukraine today amid Russian shelling.
"I expressed my condolences to @PMOIndia for the loss of life of an Indian student in #Kharkiv today due to indiscriminate Russian attacks against innocent civilians," the council president said in a tweet.
Michel further said that the European countries are wholeheartedly helping Indian citizens to evacuate them from Ukraine as the conflict rises.
A student from Haveri in Karnataka was killed during the shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv on Tuesday morning, the MEA confirmed. According to students there, Naveen Shekharappa G, a fourth-year student at the Kharkiv National Medical University was living in the bunker below his flat. Naveen had gone out to buy food when the blast occurred in the city centre, said his friends.
The Foreign Ministry of India has also urged Russia and Ukraine to secure safe passage for thousands of citizens stranded in the middle of the war.
Meanwhile, the Indian Prime Minister on Monday asserted that the entire government machinery was working round the clock to ensure all Indians in Ukraine are safe and secure as he deputed four Union ministers to countries bordering the war-hit nation as special envoys to oversee the rescue efforts and more evacuation flights were deployed.
The Prime Minister made the remarks at a high-level meeting, his second of the day, that was held to review the ongoing efforts under “Operation Ganga” to bring back the Indians stranded in Ukraine, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The government has also sent Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and General (retd) V K Singh to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova to oversee the evacuation of Indians.
(with PTI inputs)
