The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Thursday, March 3, advised all Indian nationals in Kharkiv to fill up an online form on an urgent basis as the Russian onslaught on the eastern Ukrainian city continued. The embassy on Wednesday, March 2, had asked all its citizens stranded in Kharkiv to leave immediately for three safe zones that were in the range of up to 16 km from the city.

At a media briefing on Thursday evening, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said around 1,000 Indians have reached Pisochyn following the advisory by the embassy on Wednesday. "All Indian Nationals who are in KHARKIV excluding PISOCHYN, please fill up details contained in the form on an urgent basis," the embassy said in an advisory on Thursday. The details sought in the Google form are name, email, phone number, address in Kharkiv, passport number and additional people accompanying any Indian.

All Indian Nationals who are in KHARKIV excluding PISOCHYN, please fill up details contained in the form on an urgent basis: https://t.co/hm5ayU5UgC

— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) March 3, 2022

Bagchi said a few hundred Indians are believed to be still stuck in Kharkiv and that India is closely following developments in the city along with the situation in other conflict zones in eastern Ukraine. The External Affairs Ministry also said that its officials are in touch with Ukrainian and Russian authorities on evacuating Indians from Kharkiv and Sumy. 

Since February 22, 6200 Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine, including 2185 persons coming through 10 special civilian flights on March 3, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The evacuation flights returning on March 3 included five from Bucharest, two from Budapest, one from Kosice, and two from Rzeszow by civilian airlines, it said. In addition, three Indian Air Force (IAF) flights are bringing more Indians today between 11 pm on March 3 and early morning of March 4, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a press release. 

The number of civilian flights will be scaled up further, and more than 7400 persons are expected to be brought through special flights in the next two days — 3500 persons are expected to be brought back on March 4 and over 3900 person on March 5, it said.