Evacuation From Ukraine Accelerating, 7,400 More Indians To Return In 2 Days: MEA
Mumbai: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said the pace of India’s evacuation operation from war-hit Ukraine is accelerating and around 6,400 people have been brought back under Operation Ganga so far. Also Read: Russia-Ukraine Conflict: Indian Student Shot At In Ukraine Informs Union Minister VK Singh
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a media briefing that the Indian side is in touch with both Ukrainian and Russian officials to examine the modalities for evacuating Indians from both Kharkiv and Sumy.
“We are closely following developments in Kharkiv, Sumy and other cities in eastern Ukraine. As you know, yesterday we issued an advisory for Indians in Kharkiv to leave the city by 6 pm local time. Pursuant to this, a large number of students have left Kharkiv and are currently in the nearby issue of Pisochyn. We estimate this number to be around 1,000,” he said.
“We are currently looking at transportation options to move them from there to western Ukraine or southern Ukraine depending on the transportation options,” Bagchi said.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine on Thursday advised all Indian citizens in Kharkiv to fill up an online form on an urgent basis as Russian attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city continue. The details asked in the google form are name, email, phone number, address in Kharkiv, passport number and additional details that any Indian possesses.
Bagchi said a few hundred Indians are believed to be still stranded in Kharkiv and that India is closely following developments in the city along with the situation in other conflict zones in eastern Ukraine.
India on Thursday stepped up efforts to evacuate its citizens from the conflict-torn country, with four IAF planes bringing back 798 people.
The Ministry of External Affairs said that around 6,400 people have been brought back under Operation Ganga, launched to evacuate Indian nationals, while over 7,400 people are expected to return home safely in the next two days.
Bagchi said the number of people leaving Ukraine was about 18,000 as an advisory was issued to evacuate them.
“The pace of Operation Ganga continues to accelerate. During the last 24 hours, 15 flights landed in India, bringing back more than 3,000 Indians,” he told a media briefing in New Delhi.
On Thursday evening, he said, “With this, the total number of flights under Operation Ganga becomes 30. That’s why we have brought back around 6,400 Indian nationals.
He said 18 flights have been scheduled in the next 24 hours, including three C-17 Indian Air Force aircraft and the rest commercial aircraft.
In terms of the departure points from Europe, there will be seven flights from Bucharest (Romania), five from Budapest (Hungary), three from Rzeszow (Poland) and one from Košice (Slovakia), Bagchi said.
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