Bengaluru : The Karnataka has appointed a nodal officer to facilitate safe movement of stranded Indians in Ukraine to their respective destinations. The nodal office will coordinate with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Embassy of India in Kyiv to provide support for evacuation of Indians stranded in Ukraine.

Senior IFS officer and Commissioner for Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority, Manoj Rajan who is the nodal officer, who will be coordinating with Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Embassy in Kyiv and provide all necessary support for evacuation of Indians stranded in Ukraine.

The nodal officer will also oversee functioning of 24/7 helpline. Here are the contact details:

Phone number: 080-1070; 080-22340676 in the State Emergency Operation Center.

Email: manoarya@gmail.com; revenuedmkar@gmail.com

The Karnataka government on Friday said 91 people from the state are stranded in Ukraine and all of them are students pursuing MBBS there. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar regarding the safety and evacuation of students from the war-torn country.

According to Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), as per the district wise information of stranded persons received by its control room till 6 AM today, all 91 reported are students (pursuing MBBS) in Ukraine.

All this information collected at the 24/7 control room has been shared with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Embassy of India, Kyiv, Ukraine to make all possible arrangements for the safe evacuation of stranded students hailing from Karnataka, it said.

About 18,000 Indian students in Ukraine and a large number of them are medical students. As per Vijayan, among the total students trapped in Ukraine, 2,320 are from Kerala and many have stayed back as they don’t want a break in their studies.