Harjot Singh

Delhi, Mar 07: An Indian student, who had sustained bullet injuries while trying to escape Kyiv in a taxi on February 27, has been successfully evacuated from conflict-hit Ukraine. 31-year-old Harjot Singh crossed Ukraine’s border and entered neighbouring Poland. Indian diplomats were present when Singh crossed the Ukrainian border.

At the border, the Indian national was shifted into an ambulance provided by the Polish Red Cross, stated Puneet Singh Chandhok, president of the Indian World Forum. He was then escorted to an Indian Air Force plane that will bring him and other Indians back to India from Poland.

Union minister Gen (retd) VK Singh, who is coordinating evacuation efforts in Poland, had stated yesterday that Singh will be brought back to India.

“Harjot Singh, an Indian national who sustained bullet injuries in Kyiv and lost his passport, will return to India with us tomorrow,” VK Singh had tweeted.

As per details, Singh had sustained four bullet injuries. One of the bullets had hit his chest.

Harjot was quoted as saying earlier that bullets were fired at them when he and others were travelling in a cab and were stopped at a barricade. “I am alive by god’s grace,” Harjot stated.

The Indian government had already announced last week that it would bear all the medical expenses of Harjot Singh.

The development came on a day when Russia announced that it will stop shelling and allow humanitarian corridors across several Ukrainian cities to let foreigners and citizens leave fighting-hit areas. The ceasefire starts at 10:00 am local time, stated the Russian Defence Ministry. Humanitarian corridors are being set up in the capital Kyiv, as well as in Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy – the cities under intense Russian attack.

It may be noted that Russia had begun an invasion of Ukraine on February 24.