New Delhi: A special train from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv ferried the last large group of Indian nationals out of the war-ravaged Eurasian country on Wednesday, set to bring an end to ‘Operation Ganga’ of the Indian government to bring stranded nationals home. neighboring countries.

The Indian government has claimed more than 22,000 Indians have returned from Ukraine since the first advisory was issued before the Russians invaded its smaller neighbor on February 24.

The last group of more than 600-700 Indian students were stuck in Sumy, caught up in intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. After a failed attempt, they were finally evacuated to a humanitarian corridor agreed by the two parties on Tuesday.

The Indian Embassy tweeted late Wednesday that the students had boarded a special train from Lviv to neighboring Poland. They would then be flown back on special flights to India on Thursday.

Ambassador leaves special train with 600 students 🇮🇳n from Sumy University at Lviv station. They will travel to Poland and are expected to embark on evacuation flights to 🇮🇳 tomorrow.
Be safe Be strong pic.twitter.com/6KYSAMxl9U

— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) March 9, 2022

The operation in Sumy began on Tuesday morning when the last large group of 600 Indians were evacuated from the town.

Sources said approval for the second successful attempt came late Monday night from Ukrainian authorities. “The buses arrived at 8 a.m. and left at 9 a.m. We were very worried until we reached the midpoint (on the way to Poltava).

The Indian nationals were taken from Sumy in a convoy of 13 buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Poltava, Anshad Ali, a student coordinator, told the PTI news agency.

A Pakistani national was also reportedly brought on buses from Sumy, along with people of other nationalities.

Official Indian sources said they were aware of claims made on social media and media reports that some Indian citizens had been discriminated against, but said they were not credible. A knowledgeable government source said no formal complaint had been filed by any Indian national. “We have seen some of the videos. They didn’t check,” the source said.

A viral video showed a large crowd beaten after crossing the border gates. Sources described it as a crowd control tactic by border guards working under difficult circumstances. It was pointed out that there was no indication that Indians were “targeted”.

Regarding reports that Indians were not allowed to board trains in Kharkiv, sources said Ukrainians had a quota on how many foreigners could be in each train car. “It’s their country, so their civilians also had to go out, so naturally they couldn’t fill the outgoing trains with all the foreigners. So many Indians were on the train but others who couldn’t get on the trains complained it was deliberate,” the source said.

India has publicly appreciated the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities and its neighbors to facilitate the return of thousands of Indians fleeing the war zone in Europe.

There had been reports that some students had to pay to be evacuated on buses from other cities. Sources said a fluid and warlike situation on the ground meant that at times student entrepreneurs had to pay drivers on the spot, forcing Indian nationals to collect whatever money was available.

India had sent four Union ministers as special envoys to Ukraine’s four neighboring countries, whose land borders were open to receive refugees fleeing the fighting. More than 50 civil servants have also been temporarily stationed in the four countries to reinforce the Indian missions responsible for the departure of nationals leaving Ukraine.

When asked if India was aware of the existence of Indian nationals fighting for the Ukrainians, sources said the government was not yet aware. “Instinctively, it’s not a good thing to encourage from here,” sources said, but added that it remains to be seen whether a special advisory should be issued to discourage such an eventuality.

(With contributions from the agency)