109 more AP students return from Ukraine

Vijayawada: As many as 109 students hailing from Andhra Pradesh returned safely to their motherland on Sunday from war-hit Ukraine.

With this, the total number has risen to 550 since February 26 when the first flight brought the first batch of 10 distraught students back home, an official of the State Task Force said.

The AP government has so far identified 770 students from the state studying in Ukraine. While Government of India is making efforts to repatriate the remaining students as well, some of them are said to be staying back in their relatives' houses in other European countries, according to the Task Force officials. They say the remaining students could be brought back to the State in the next couple of days as the Centre has been operating more number of flights.

Meanwhile, YSR Congress MP V Vijayasai Reddy tweeted that a doctor hailing from Tanuku in West Godavari district has refused to leave Ukraine. The MP in his tweet said, "Truly, the power of a human-animal bond is fascinating. It is pleasing to know that Dr Kumar Bandi, a native of Tanuku in AP, stayed back in Ukraine as he did not want to leave behind his two big pet cats – a leopard & a black panther – at the mercy of others in a war-torn country." "Crazy," an IAS officer remarked in exasperation, in response to the tweet.