Ukraine crisis: Romanian govt to provide evacuated Indian students with food, accommodation, says envoy

Talking to Zee Media, Romania's envoy to Delhi also expressed worries over refugee influx.

A view shows destroyed military vehicles on a road in Kharkiv (Photo: Reuters)

New Delhi: Romania's envoy to Delhi Daniela-Mariana Sezonov Ţane on Friday (February 25, 2022) said that her country will provide food and accommodation to the Indian students who are being evacuated from war-torn Ukraine. 

Speaking to Zee Media, envoy Daniela said, "Romanian government offered support for a couple of days with food accommodation to Indian students and not only students but also the Indian citizens coming from Ukraine."

"There are consular teams from India which probably have reached the border with Ukraine in the north of the country and they will help the students reach Bucharest and from Bucharest, there will be flights for India organized by the Indian government." 

She also expressed worries over refugee influx saying, "There is a crisis cell in Romania preparing for refugees. We don't know, how many there will be." 

The first batch of Indian students on Friday reached Romania from Ukraine via the Suceava border. 

India's Ministry of External Affairs teams at Suceava will now facilitate their travel to Bucharest for their return journey to the country. 

The Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Thursday had spoken to a number of eastern European foreign ministers including the Romanian counterpart with a focus on the unfolding crisis in Ukraine and evacuation of Indian nationals.

On being asked if Romania is worried about the ongoing Russian invasion of Poland, Daniela said, "I think everybody is worried, not only my government but also the Indian government and EU countries. Frontline countries and neighbouring countries like Romania, Poland and Hungary, which may have to face a big influx of refugees, are worried. We have to be prepared for that. It is very difficult to predict, it's impossible for the time being to know what will unfold."

"What we hope is that in the 12th hour, diplomacy will prevail and (Vladimir) Putin will stop his attacks. As you may know that EU stands together and we have a very strong common position of the 27 EU member countries against the Russian aggression calling to a halt for the cessation of hostilities and announcing very strong sanction measures against Russia if this situation continues," she added.