PSA

List of travel advisories from various governments to its citizens in Ukraine. An overview for few countries’ advisories

United States : First advisory Jan 23rd

Australia : January 25th

Japan : January 25th

Canada : February 1st

Netherlands : February 11th

Bangladesh : February 12th (as per news only 500 Bangladesh nationals in Ukraine)

India : Official advisory as per EOU site is 15th Feb, but a website proclaims there was an advisory in late January, which cannot be found in Embassy site. Note: There are almost 20,000 Indians in Ukraine, 18,000 of them are students

China : Still hasn’t asked its citizens to leave the country

When other countries were advising its citizens to leave Ukraine, Indian FAM was taking history lessons to opposition party members.

Results of these delays : Prime Time Ravish Kumar Videos (1, 2, 3)

Students Plea : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

In Student plea Videos one can see students walking miles to cross borders or go to borders. Ministers claiming success after first evacuation batch arriving in India. Students are cut off from speaking about their grievances by the Indian news anchors making one wonder if they are there to bring plight of students to the fore or muzzle the discontent voices.

In Ravish’s videos (though in Hindi, the visuals speak for itself) one can see students sharing their plight from bunkers, their long walks to borders, their standing in sub zero degrees to be let into neighboring countries. He also talks about a ICWF fund that Indian government has to assist oversees Indian citizens in such desperate times. So, those who say that government cannot spend money to bring students back, please note it is tax payers money that government has already collected to use in such situations. This PDF has details of funds’ source.

For those who might say the students should have left Ukraine when government issued first advisory, first the ticket prices were 3 or 4 times the usual pricing (surge pricing is it????), two the universities were not ready to abandon the in person classes and reassured students that there won’t be war. If you were a middle class student, who spent money to study abroad it won’t be an easy decision to make.

For those who say it is difficult for governments to plan evacuation amidst a war, India did undertake a huge evacuation in early 90s, where it evacuated 1,70,000 citizens. It is the duty of government to take care of its citizens and there is nothing to boast about for doing your duty.

Disclaimer : The post is not just to point fingers at the government, but to those who take pleasure in pointing fingers at the students but don’t question the government’s missed opportunity of anticipating a crisis and having contingency plans to evacuate its citizens.

Note : Ravish Kumar’s videos inspired to look for the source and publish this post!!

Update : 02/03: In this Video Former Ambassador explains what could’ve been the possible reason for the delayed advisory

Update : 03/03 : In this Video Ravish Kumar explains how Indian government did a similar evacuation in 2014 from Ukraine under next FMA Ms. Sushma Swaraj. Those blind followers of the current dispensation questioning the students should see this.