A Bangladeshi national who was stuck in war-torn Ukraine for days has been evacuated by the Indian government, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed, days after Dhaka approached India, seeking its assistance from evacuating its nationals from Ukraine. 

Arindam Bagchi, the MEA spokesperson of confirmed that a Bangladeshi national was rescued along with Indians from Ukraine. However, he did not release any further details. 

Earlier Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen had confirmed that Bangladesh has sought assistance from the Indian Embassy in evacuating its stranded nationals. 

On Saturday morning, Russia declared a ceasefire in Ukraine for the creation of the humanitarian corridor to the safe evacuation of civilians, including foreigners, from fighting zones. The ceasefire came into effect at 11:30 AM (IST) [ 6:30 AM GMT].  

Significantly, New Delhi has also been assisting in the evacuation of nationals from the neighboring countries after it received a similar request from Nepal. 

Under Operation Ganga, an ambitious evacuation plan that New Delhi launched last month after the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, nearly 18,000 Indians have been evacuated so far from several cities of Ukraine. 

On Saturday, 16 flights will bring back most of the Indians and others from neighboring countries of Ukraine. A few thousand Indian students are still stuck in the war-torn country, though no one seems to know their exact numbers. Since most of these students, from economically not so well off families, have gone there privately, mainly to study medicine as medical education is very expensive in India, the government does not seem to have a complete idea of how many students were there or how many still remain, and it has been able to bring back only those who have crossed over to neighbouring countries, mainly Romania and Poland.

(SAM)