Ukraine Agrees To Hold Talks With Russia
Some Indian students have been evacuated from Ukraine and Russia and Ukraine have agreed to hold talks in Belarus.
It is the fifth day since Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine. It led to heavy fighting and airstrikes across the country. Amidst the war, Indian students were advised to reach Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania from where the Indian government would evacuate them and bring them safely to India. The first evacuation flight from Bucharest, Romania landed in Delhi at around 2.55am on Sunday 27th February with 249 stranded Indian students in Ukraine. The students were welcomed by civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. He assured the safety of their friends and colleagues who are yet to be evacuated. Scindia spoke to the students in the aircraft and welcomed them with a hand bouquet. A total of around 470 stranded passengers have been brought back to India, while thousands of them await evacuation. Indian students who were evacuated expressed their gratitude to the Government of India for bringing them back safely. The students are also hoping for the safe and early return of the remaining students to India.
Meanwhile, theUkraine government handed out guns and asked the civilians to protect their country. Many people picked up a Kalashnikov when boxes of them were dumped from trucks and handed out to Ukraine's new volunteers. The Ukraine government had also announced that men ages 18 to 60 were prohibited from leaving the country. After Russia declared war on Ukraine, Belgium, Finland and Canada and other countries have shut down their airspace to Russian planes. Western nations led by theUS also announced a new set of economic sanctions on Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert.
Russia had earlier sent a delegation to Belarus and said it was ready to start peace negotiations with Ukraine. But Ukraine's PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky had rejected Russia’s offer because Russia has been carrying out some of its attacks on Ukraine from Belarus and he is open to talks only in locations that are not showing aggression towards his country. According to reports, the agreement for talks is a result of a phone call between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko where he has taken responsibility that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarus territory would be grounded during the Ukrainian delegation's travel, talks and return. The talks would start today, Monday 28th February. Keep watching ISH News as we will be sharing all the updates with you.
