All of our nationals have left Kyiv... All our inquiries reveal that each and every one of our nationals has come out of Kyiv,” said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday. There were about 20,000 Indian students in Ukraine when the government issued its first advisory, he said. “From that number, approximately 12,000 have since left Ukraine, which is 60 per cent of the total,” Shringla said, of the rest, half remain in conflict zones.

The advisory came amid increasing fighting between Russian forces and Ukrainian troops around Kyiv. However, a lot of students alleged that the trains were full and there were hardly any other means of transport to take them to safer places. Following the advisory, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday requested all Malayalis there to follow it.