Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai spoke to Karnataka students stranded in war-torn Ukraine on Thursday, assuring them that all possible efforts would be made to safely evacuate them back home.

Around 200 students from the state are stranded in the besieged city of Kharkiv, according to the Chief Minister's office.  The CMO said, Bommai spoke with Gagan Gowda, a Bengaluru native, and other students from the state over the phone and listened to their problems.

Detailing their state of affairs, the students informed the Chief Minister that they have walked to a place about 30-kilometer from Kharkiv, and were safe as of now. Bommai urged the students to be brave, saying that his government was in constant contact with the Ministry of External Affairs and that every effort had been taken to guarantee that they received cooperation.  He also told them that he would make every attempt to return them safely home.

On Tuesday, Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, a 21-year-old medical student from Karnataka's Haveri district, was killed in Russian shelling in Kharkiv city. 

Meanwhile, Manoj Rajan, Nodal Officer and Commissioner of the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), revealed that 149 persons from the state have returned from Ukraine so far as part of "Operation Ganga."

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