India evacuates 1,000 nationals from Ukrainian city

India last week issued an advisory asking its nationals to leave Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine which are witnessing frequent violent clashes between pro-Russian separatists and government forces.

In the advisory, it also asked citizens in the other parts of eastern and southern Ukraine to remain vigilant about their personal safety and security.

Eastern Ukraine is witnessing a fierce escalation of violence between the two sides over the past few days. 

The violence started after Russia annexed Crimea -  an autonomous peninsula within Ukraine with a Russian ethnic majority - in March following which the pro-Russian rebels seized control of parts of eastern Ukraine and demanded its independence.

The current evacuation is the biggest one after the exercise in 2011 in Libya where Indian government evacuated around 18,000 nationals, who were fleeing from the Libyan civil war.