Month: March 2022

Russian forces strike at residential buildings in central Chernihiv city of Ukraine on Thursday (local time), according to The Kyiv independent, a Ukraine media outlet.

According to the Northern Territorial Defense Forces, there is no military infrastructure in the nearby area, only several schools, kindergartens, and a hospital.
Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv on Thursday woke up with air raid alerts. The residents were advised to take shelter in safe houses.

A building of the military faculty of Sumy State University in Ukraine’s northeastern city Sumy was shelled this morning by Russian force.

“A building of the military faculty of Sumy State University in Ukraine’s northeastern city Sumy was shelled this morning by Russian forces,” reported Head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration Dmytro Zhyvytsky.

Meanwhile, Russian forces moving towards Ukraine’s capital, including a large military convoy, “remain stalled,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. The troops could be “regrouping,” or facing challenges such as supply shortages and Ukrainian resistance.

A large Russian military convoy stretching over 30 km was delayed on Thursday due to staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion said the latest UK defence intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine.

Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities. (ANI)

Ahead of his 100th Test match, India batter Virat Kohli said that he feels blessed to have the opportunity.

As India take on Sri Lanka in the first Test of the two-match series, the former India captain will achieve the milestone of playing 100 matches in the longest format.

“I think my first Test hundred is something I remember very fondly. It’s still very fresh in my memories. Also knowing the fact that it came in Australia, made it much more special. It was an overseas hundred for a young guy, wanting to establish himself in Test cricket,” said Kohli in a video posted on BCCI.

“I have put in a lot of effort. I made sure that my core moral values should remain intact. Test cricket is the purest form of the game and I have given my heart and soul to this format. It feels great that I was able to contribute to my environment and the culture. It’s a matter of pride and it is something to feel blessed about, as this opportunity comes very rarely,” he added.

Kohli was slated to play his 100th Test during the South Africa series earlier this year, but as fate has it, he will reach the milestone in India itself with a 50 per cent crowd in attendance at the PCA Stadium, Mohali.

Earlier this year, Kohli stepped down as the Test leader but it was not before the batter left a lasting legacy as a captain in the longest format of the game.

The 33-year-old, who is responsible for creating a crop of fast-bowlers that can help the side take 20 wickets in any condition, will now be hoping to have a good run with the bat in all three formats of the game.

Kohli holds the record for most Test appearances as India Test captain (68) and he also holds the record for most Test wins by an Indian captain (40). Only Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh have won more matches than Kohli as captain in Test cricket.

Kohli had first led the side in Test cricket in 2014 against Australia. His last game as captain was the Cape Town Test in South Africa, which India lost by seven wickets. Filling the shoes of MS Dhoni was not going to be easy, but Kohli quickly cemented his position as one of the best thinkers the country has seen in Test cricket. (ANI)

Amid heightened tensions due to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain on Thursday said that India is the largest democracy in the world and its voice matters.

“India’s voice is very important. It’s the largest democracy in the world. India aspires to an even larger responsibility in the international fora. My country is a strong supporter of India getting a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. India is a voice that is heard in the world,” Lenain said in an inclusive interview with ANI.
He referred to India’s statements in which it had stressed the “importance of respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations”.

“We really count on the largest democracy in the world. India has made statements on respect for territorial integrity which are very welcome,” the French envoy said.

India and 34 other countries on Wednesday abstained from a UN General Assembly resolution that censured Russia over its military actions against Ukraine. India had earlier abstained from the UN Security Council procedural vote to call for a General Assembly session on the Ukraine crisis.

India along with China and UAE had last week abstained from a US-sponsored resolution against Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. Moscow used its veto against the resolution.

Lenain said India shares a good relationship with Russia and it “must bring Moscow to the discussion table”.

He said New Delhi should support the humanitarian resolution in the upcoming UN Security Council meeting.

“Nobody should say what India should do. As the crisis is deepening, support from India would be very welcome because India’s voice matters,” said Lenain. (ANI)

The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that the Indian Embassy in Kyiv is not shut but a significant part of the Embassy had moved to Lviv.

“Embassy is not shut in Kyiv. A team of the Embassy in Kyiv was asked to move to Lviv. We have an office now functioning in Lviv. We were trying to see if the other part of the team of the Embassy in Kyiv can move to the Eastern side of the country but it is a dynamic process so I do not know exactly where they are. The embassy is fully functional,” said MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, while speaking at the special briefing on Operation Ganga, to bring back Indian citizens from Ukraine amid Russia’s military operation.

However, a building of the military facility of Sumy State University in Ukraine’s northeastern city Sumy was shelled this morning by Russian force.

The mayor of the southern city of Kherson indicated it had fallen on Wednesday, saying Ukrainian forces had left. This follows several days of heavy fighting, with Russian forces surrounding the strategically significant city north of the Crimean Peninsula.

Meanwhile, Russian forces moving towards Ukraine’s capital, including a large military convoy, “remain stalled,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. The troops could be “regrouping,” or facing challenges such as supply shortages and Ukrainian resistance.

A large Russian military convoy stretching over 30 km was delayed on Thursday due to staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion said the latest UK defence intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine. (ANI)

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said that eight flights will arrive here in Bucharest (local time) to evacuate around 1800 Indian nationals.

“Today 8 flights will arrive in Bucharest and will take around 1800 citizens to India. Yesterday 6 flights carrying around 1300 citizens left from Bucharest. Now I am going to border point Siret. There are 1000 students in Siret,” said Scindia in Romania.
The Union Minister said on Friday four flights will reach Suceava and will evacuate around 1000 students back to India.

“Suceava is a nearby airport to Siret. So two IndiGo flights are coming to Suceava and will take around 450 students back to India. Tomorrow four flights will come to Suceava and will carry 900- 1000 students,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Scindia in a tweet said that 3,726 Indians will be brought back home on Thursday by 19 flights from Bucharest, Suceava, Kosice, Budapest, and Rzeszow.

“Under Operation Ganga, 3726 Indians will be brought back home today on eight flights from Bucharest, two flights from Suceava, one flight from Kosice, five flights from Budapest, and three flights from Rzeszow,” tweeted Scindia.

Meanwhile, the students who were evacuated from Ukraine and arrived at Delhi airport on Thursday thanked the Indian government for rescuing them.

Notably, the American C-17 Globemasters and IL-76 transport aircraft are the most capable of flying to long distances with around 400 passengers. The C-17 transport aircraft had helped in a big way to evacuate citizens and officials from Kabul when the Taliban captured Afghanistan and forced Americans to exit from there.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said nine flights took off on Thursday from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Poland.

A total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in Ukraine.

For the past few days, the Prime Minister has been chairing crucial meetings on the issue.

Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with students who returned to India from Ukraine, in Varanasi on Thursday.

These students shared their experiences with him. The students were from Varanasi as well as other parts of Uttar Pradesh.

A total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in Ukraine.

In a bid to further scale up the evacuation efforts, the government has deployed 80 flights under ‘Operation Ganga’ to evacuate stranded Indians from Ukraine.

The government has also roped in more than two dozen Ministers to monitor evacuation missions without any hiccups, sources told ANI on Thursday.

By March 10, a total of 80 flights will be pressed into service to evacuate the stranded Indians. These flights belong to the fleet of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Spice Jet, Vistara, Go Air, and also planes from the Air Force.

The Prime Minister has been chairing crucial meetings on the issue in the last few days.

Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities. (ANI)

Union Health Ministry on Thursday said that there is a sharp reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country.

Compared with the COVID-19 cases being reported globally, the Union Ministry highlighted that only 0.7 per cent of global cases are reported in India.

Addressing a press conference today, Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, “There has been a sharp surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in many countries in the world. This notes an increasing trajectory of rising cases on a daily basis. Even today, around 15,00,000 cases are reported daily in the world.”

“Now also across many countries, huge COVID-19 cases are being reported. In some countries, an increase in the trajectory of cases continues. A sharp reduction of COVID-19 cases is observed in India. On average around 11,000 COVID-19 cases are reported on a weekly basis in India. There has been a sharp reduction in the number of cases. Only 0.7 per cent of global cases are reported in India,” he said.

The Health Ministry today highlighted that a positive situation in the number of deaths in India as compared to other countries has been observed.

He said, “There is a positive situation in the number of deaths in India as compared to other countries. From February 2-8, India reported 615 deaths on average. In last week, 144 deaths were reported due to COVID-19. A decline of 76.6 per cent from the peak of what India has seen.”

The Health Ministry highlighted that Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram account for 50 per cent of active cases in the country.

“Only a single state is having active cases over 10,000 and two states are having active cases between 5,000 to 10,000. The remaining states have less than 5,000 active cases. Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram accounts for 50 per cent of active cases of the country,” he said.

India reported 6,561 new COVID-19 cases and 142 deaths in the last 24 hours.

According to the health bulletin, the active caseload stands at 77,152 and it comprises 0.18 per cent of total infections. The total recoveries stand at 14,947 in the last 24 hours increasing it to 4,23,53,620. The recovery rate is at 98.62 per cent.

The daily positivity rate is 0.96 per cent and the weekly positivity rate is 0.99 per cent.

178.02 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide vaccination drive. With 8.82 samples collected in the last 24 hours, the tally crossed 77 crores in the country. (ANI)

In a bid to further scale up the evacuation efforts, the government has deployed 80 flights under ‘Operation Ganga’ to evacuate stranded Indians from Ukraine.

The government has also roped in more than two dozen Ministers to monitor evacuation missions without any hiccups, sources told ANI on Thursday.

Sources told ANI that the government has accelerated the evacuation plan for the Indians stranded in Ukraine. Total flights ferry has been increased to bring more and more Indians. By March 10, a total of 80 flights will be pressed into service to evacuate the stranded Indians. These flights belong to the fleet of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Spice Jet, Vistara, Go Air, and also planes from Air Force.

Sources also told ANI that the 35 evacuations have been planned from the Romanian capital city Bucharest, which include 14 flights of Air India, eight of Air India Express, seven of IndiGo, one of Spice Jet, three of Vistara and two of Indian Air Force.

A total of 28 flights have been scheduled to take off from Hungary’s capital Budapest. Among these 28, 15 flights are from Go Air, 9 from IndiGo, 2 from Air India, 1 from Indian Air Force, and 1 from Spice Jet. A total of nine flights are scheduled from Rzeszow, Poland, which includes eight from IndiGo and 1 from Indian Air Force, while five flights will take off from Suceava, Romania and 3 flights will take off from Kosice, Slovakia.

Sources also stated that approximately 17,000 stranded Indians will be evacuated from Ukraine by these 80 flights, scheduled to take off from Budapest, Bucharest, and Rzeszow, Suceava, and Kosice.

Till March 2, a total of 24 flights have landed under ‘Operation Ganga’. The government started ‘Operation Ganga’ on February 26 to evacuate stranded Indians from Ukraine.

The first flight carrying Indians landed in Mumbai on February 26 which was received by Piyush Goyal, Minister for Commerce and Industry, Textile, Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution.

Prime Minister has sent four Ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, and VK Singh to Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Poland to oversee the evacuation of Indians.

The Modi government has also roped in ministers to monitor smooth evacuation and receive Indians at Delhi and Mumbai Airport who are coming from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Poland under Operation Ganga.

Ministers Jitendra Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Rao Inderjeet Singh, Narayan Rane, G Kishan Reddy, Kailash Choudhary, Parshottam Rupala, Bhagwant Khuba, Virendra Kumar, Meenakshi Lekhi, V. Muraleedharan, Bhagwat Karad, Nisith Pramanik, Shantanu Thakur, Rao Saheb Danve, Darshana Jardosh, Devusinh Chauhan, Bharati Pravin Pawar, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Subhas Sarkar, Kapil Patil have been assigned to receive the flights coming from neighboring countries of Ukraine carrying Indians. (ANI)