Indian foreign secretary (FS) Harsh Shringla on Tuesday announced that there are no Indian nationals left in Kiev, capital of Ukraine.
FS Shringla also mentioned that he has asked the Russian and the Ukrainian envoys to permit a safe passage for the Indian nationals to escape the warzone, especially in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
“We remain very concerned over the situation in Kharkiv, Sumy and other conflict zones… Over the next three days, 26 flights have been scheduled to bring back Indian citizens,” FS Shingla informed in a press briefing.
The Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster, a military transport aircraft, was dispatched to Romania at 4 A.M. Wednesday morning to carry home the Indian nationals who escaped Ukraine via land borders into neighbouring countries.
The flight is part of a series of undertakings by the Indian government under “Operation Ganga” to fly home Indian nationals leaving war-stricken Ukraine. The massive cargo aircraft left for Romania from the Hindan Air Force station near Delhi.
The C17 aircrafts will also deliver critical humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees such as Medicine, medical equipment, blankets, protective eye gear, water storage tanks, sleeping mats, surgical gloves, solar lamps, etc.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs informed that an Indian national, a medical student, had died in Kharkiv due to shelling in the city. PM Modi expressed anguish over the death of the student.
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The Indian government has launched “Operation Ganga” to fly home Indian nationals who escaped war-stricken Ukraine via the land borders.
“Operation Ganga” involves civilian airplanes, including Air India, SpiceJet and Indigo Airlines, being flown to Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary (all sharing land borders with Ukraine) to fly home Indian nationals, mostly medical students, who have crossed the Ukrainian borders. The expense is being borne by the Indian government.
Prime Minister Modi had on Monday held a high-level meeting in which it was decided that four ministers of his cabinet will travel to five eastern European countries to coordinate evacuation under “Operation Ganga”. Gen. VK Singh has been dispatched to Poland, Hardeep Singh Puri will go to Hungary, Jyotiraditya Scindia will travel to Romania and Moldova and Kiren Rijiju will travel to Slovakia.
