External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced today that India has evacuated 1,377 nationals from war-torn Ukraine in the last 24 hours.
“In the previous 24 hours, six flights have left for India, including the first flights from Poland. In a tweet, Mr Jaishankar said, “Carried back 1377 more Indian nationals from Ukraine.”
India would operate around 26 planes in the next three days as part of Operation Ganga, which was launched to evacuate nationals in Ukraine. Because Ukraine’s airspace is closed, Indians are being flown out of Romania, Hungary, Poland, and the Slovak Republic.
As part of Operation Ganga, the Indian Air Force has dispatched a C-17 to Romania.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters yesterday that no Indians remain in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.
Russia has initiated an operation against civilian areas in a number of cities, and citizens of Kyiv have been ordered to abandon their houses. On the routes headed to Kyiv, satellite photos revealed a long convoy of Russian forces. Hundreds of tanks, towed artillery, armoured, and logistics vehicles can be seen in pictures provided by a US-based satellite technology business.
In Ukraine, over 16,000 Indian students remain stuck. Since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Thursday, stranded students have been anxious for aid, posting recordings of their situation from railway stations, border posts, and bunkers to the media and social media. They claimed they were not permitted to board trains because of alleged manhandling.
Approximately 9,000 Indian citizens have departed on separate special aircraft.
After months of anxiety over the former Soviet Republic’s proximity to NATO, Russia started an invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
