Officials accelerate ‘Operation Ganga’ after first Indian casualty in Ukrainian conflict
The safety and evacuation of the estimated 4,000 Indian students stranded in eastern Ukrainian cities which have faced intense shelling, is the government’s top priority, says officials.
India on Tuesday emphatically demanded that Moscow and Kyiv should create “urgent safe passages” for the many Indian nationals stranded in various conflict zones in Ukraine. This followed after the death of a Medical student from Karnataka due to the intense shelling in Kharkiv City in Eastern Ukraine.
Naveen Shekharappa Gyandagoudar, a 21-year old final year Medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University had stepped out of the bunker in which the students had been holed up for close to a week to buy groceries. He was hit by Russian shelling while standing in a queue at the store and has become the first Indian casualty of the Ukrainian conflict. Prime Minister Modi and the Chief Minister of Karnataka have offered their condolences to the deceased student’s family.
