Behind the scene: 2 calls, 12 buses, tense journey with Red Cross help

“In both calls, the leaders gave their green signal and told the Prime Minister that they did not have a problem with safe passage,” an official, who was privy to the developments that led to the evacuation effort on Tuesday, told The Indian Express.

Sources said the calls between the leaders gave the initiative a “final push”, and the decks were cleared after officials in Moscow and Kiev got instructions to create a “humanitarian corridor”.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar worked the phone lines, too, while Defence Ministry officials reached out to their counterparts and two Indian ambassadors — Pavan Kapoor in Moscow and Partha Satpathy in Kiev — liaised with top officials in the two capitals.

The Red Cross in Geneva was also contacted and they alerted their unit in Ukraine, which helped with some of the arrangements.

And yet, there was intense apprehension over whether the ceasefire would hold or not, as everyone waited anxiously while day rolled into night.

Several phone calls were made and messages exchanged before the final green signal came through about midnight on Monday, even as the students were asked to stay away from social media — no tweets, no posts on Instagram.

Near Sumy, three teams of Indian officials and local embassy staff were stationed in three different cities. Local Ukrainian contacts of the embassy also helped. Finally, the buses were able to reach Sumy after facing a lot of challenges, the official said.

It was hard to find drivers, and the vehicles were mostly commandeered by Ukrainian army personnel. Some private cars were roped in. There was also a shortage of fuel, especially for long journeys. The local contacts helped out once again. Officials were aware, meanwhile, that some roads were damaged, and a few bridges destroyed by shelling in and around Sumy.

Finally, 12 buses were able to reach a point in Sumy, from where they were able to pick up the students from a hostel. The buses then moved to Poltava in central Ukraine where they were expected to reach late Tuesday night. The next step is for the students to take the train to the western border from where they would enter another country.

Once the paperwork is complete, which is expected to take a day, the students would be flown back to India on at least three aircraft by the morning of March 10 or 11, sources said. “It wasn’t an easy task to get them out…and there were a lot of challenges, but we managed without risking anyone’s life,” another official, who was privy to the arrangements, told The Indian Express.