An estimated 5,000 students, most of them pursuing professional courses, and emigrants from Tamil Nadu are stranded in Ukraine due to the war, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday told External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and demanded immediate steps to fly them back home.
In a letter to Jaishankar, Stalin said the Tamil Nadu government has opened round-the-clock help desks and has named a nodal officer to facilitate the evacuation of the students by coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs.
“We have been receiving hundreds of distress calls from the family members of the students studying in Ukraine requesting for their urgent evacuation. However, it has come to our notice that airports in Ukraine are closed. They are in need of our support to be brought back to India safely,” Stalin said.
Considering the high number of Tamilians in Ukraine, it is requested that a Nodal Officer may be nominated for coordination with the Government of Tamil Nadu, Stalin said.
“I request the Government of India to take up this issue with the authorities there for evacuating them out of Ukraine immediately. I also request the Government of India to arrange for Special Mission Flights like Vande Bharath Mission to evacuate them from various parts of Ukraine,” he added.
Thousands of students from Tamil Nadu are pursuing medicine and other professional courses in Ukraine.
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