Russia – Ukraine War Casualty over 70, Modi Likely to Speak to Putin for Peace

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Feb 24: As the casualty in the Russia – Ukraine conflict is claimed to have crossed 70 within a few hours after Russia launched air strikes on Thursday morning, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have been advised by the cabinet committee on security to speak to the Russian president Vladimir Putin on the issue.

Official sources said Modi, who chaired the meeting of the committee at his official residence on Thursday evening to discuss the situation in Ukraine and its probable impact on India, specially the crude oil prices which has started soaring, was expected to speak to Putin later in the night. The Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman were among those present in the meeting.

With around 22,000 Indians in Ukraine, the ministries are drawing up emergency alternative plans for the evacuation of the Indians as Ukraine has closed its airspace. Plans of evacuating the Indians via Ukraine’s neighbouring countries are being considered.

Indian ambassador to Ukraine, Partha Satpathy, called on Indians to face the current situation with “calm and fortitude” as the situation is “highly tense and very uncertain”. The envoy said the ministry of external affairs and the embassy are working on a “mission mode” to find a “solution to this difficult situation.” On Thursday morning, a large number of Indian panicked students reached outside the Indian embassy in Kyiv and sought refuge. Not all could be accommodated inside the embassy premises and some have been provided safe premises nearby. “No Indian student is stranded outside the Embassy of India at present,” official sources said.

In an apparent bid to de-escalate the situation, the NATO has decided against sending troops to Ukraine despite its appeal for help. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had no intention to send forces into Ukraine. “We don’t have NATO troops in Ukraine, and we don’t have any plans to send NATO troops into Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told a media conference after an emergency meeting of the alliance’s ambassadors.

India has already called for de-escalation of hostilities, saying unless it is checked, it can “spiral into a major crisis” that can severely destabilize the region. “We express our deep concern over the developments, which if not handled carefully, may well undermine the peace and security of the region,” India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, TS Tirumurti has said.

The government has also been trying to evacuate Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine. But this morning, special flights to Kyiv for the evacuation were cancelled as Ukraine closed its airspace. With an Air India flight forced to turn back, India is now looking for alternative routes to evacuate its citizens. The foreign ministry held high-level meetings to work out contingency plans and alternate evacuation routes, sources said.

To assist in the evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine, the foreign ministry is sending teams to the land borders with Ukraine in Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic and Romania. The Indian embassy has also issued a set of guidelines to students and others who live in the country. The Indian embassy warned that citizens “traveling to Kyiv, including those traveling from western parts of Kyiv, are advised to return to their respective cities temporarily, especially towards safer places along the western bordering countries.”

Modi’s decision to call Putin followed Ukraine’s ambassador to India Igor Polikha pleading with the prime minister to intervene as India and Russia share a special relationship. “We urge PM Narendra Modi to immediately contact Russian President Vladimir Putin and our President Volodymyr Zelensky,” the envoy had said.

“I don’t know how many world leaders Putin may listen to but, the status of Modi ji makes me hopeful. Because of his strong voice, Putin would at least think it over. We are expecting a much more favourable attitude from the Indian Government,” the envoy had stated.

Elsewhere, the United States President Joe Biden was meeting with G7 allies on Thursday to hammer out a raft of new sanctions against Russia after it invaded Ukraine, and would later speak to the American people on a crisis that he warns will cause “catastrophic loss of life.”

The virtual, closed-door meeting of G7 leaders — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States would be held later Thursday evening. Biden earlier said the US and its allies would respond in “a united and decisive way” to what he called “an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces” on Ukraine. “President (Vladimir) Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden said in a statement.

The Ukrainian police on Thursday said Russia had carried out 203 attacks since the beginning of the day, with fighting going on almost everywhere throughout Ukraine’s territory. State border guards said the Ukrainian military was fighting Russian forces near the eastern city of Sumy. Ukraine’s Defence Minister said some Russian forces had been taken prisoner in heavy fighting.

Russian forces invaded Ukraine by land, air and sea on Thursday in the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II. Ukraine claimed that its forces were fighting against the Russian forces along practically its entire border with Russia, and there was fierce fighting in the regions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odessa and at a military airport near Kyiv, an adviser to the presidential office said.

The Ukrainian official said they feared that Russian forces could be air dropped into the country and then try to penetrate the government district in Kyiv. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Ukrainian border guards had abandoned all facilities at the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Ukraine official sources claimed that 18 people died on Thursday in an air strike on a military base near Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odessa, the local administration said. “Eighteen died — eight men and 10 women. At the moment, we are still digging through the rubble,” the Odessa regional administration said in a statement.

It was the deadliest single strike so far of the day reported by Ukrainian officials, who had earlier put the death toll across the country at around 50, including about 10 civilians. The attack struck a military base about 100 kilometres north of Odessa, in a region near Ukraine’s border with Moldova.

By evening, Russia claimed that its military has destroyed more than 70 military targets in Ukraine, including 11 airfields, 18 radar stations of the S-300 and Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems. At least 68 people — soldiers and civilians — were killed, media reports said.