Indian Mission in Slovakia moves officials near Ukraine border
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Feb, 2022 01:35 PM
New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) The Indian Embassy in Slovakia has moved all its senior staff members to the border areas with Ukraine to facilitate crossing of Indian nationals from the war-hit country to Slovakia.
"From Thursday afternoon, the Embassy of India in Bratislava has stationed officials at the Slovak-Ukraine border to provide essential assistance to India nationals who might cross over to Slovakia," the Embassy stated.
The Embassy also released numbers of the officials for the stranded nationals -- Manoj Kumar, Consular Officer is available on +421908025212, while Ivan Kozinka is available on +421908458724. Apart from them, few more officials have been moved.
India is working out evacuation plans for Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine through Romania, Hungary and Poland.
"Slovakia at this point of time is not yet a designated evacuation point. However, we are ready to provide assistance to Indian nationals in Ukraine who may come to Slovakia," said the Embassy.
On Thursday, India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had stated that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has spoken to the concerned officials in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia for setting up camps on the border areas for evacuation of stranded Indian nationals.
The Foreign Secretary also stated that flight options will available from Dubai and Istanbul and the Indian Embassy continues to be operational in Ukraine.
A contingent of persons from the Hindu and Sikh communities who are stranded in Afghanistan were provided reassurance of safety by the Taliban, media reports said. Over 300 Hindus and Sikhs are reportedly taking shelter at the Karte Parwan Gurudwara in Kabul.
We need humanitarian supplies. The refugee situation we updated you with last week and the week before has only deteriorated. We have 300,000 internal refugees and 80,000 children who are without shelter and food. Where we were short of supplies, now we are out.
Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by RIA: "Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac."
Fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents can now enter Canada for non-essential purposes for the first time since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the two countries to severely curtail travel.
One person was killed and another injured during a shooting which took place in the parking lot of a store in the US state of Pennsylvania, authorities said.
Six Sikhs were killed in the August 5, 2012, attack in which four people, including a police officer, were injured and one person died last year from the wounds sustained in the shooting.
