The Indian Embassy in Kyiv which had been shut in March amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will be reopened on May 17, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Friday.

On March 13, the embassy was relocated to Warsaw, the capital city of Ukraine’s neighbouring country Poland. The foreign ministry had then said that the decision was taken “in view of the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Ukraine, including attacks in the western parts of the country”.

Over 20,000 Indians were stuck in Ukraine – most of them being medical students – when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. This was after Ukraine closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following an attack.

The Union government evacuated the stranded Indians under Operation Ganga. Teams from the Indian embassies in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania, had been deployed along the Ukraine border to facilitate the exit of Indians.