Amid Ukraine and Russia crisis, the government has established numerous 24X7 control centres to assist in the evacuation of Indian nationals. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a dedicated Twitter account has been set up 'OpGanga' to assist Operation Ganga. Thousands of Indian nations are being brought back via a bunch of flights from the crisis-hit region in the past few days.
So far, a total of 469 Indian nationals have been evacuated from Ukraine, out of which 250 landed in Delhi on Sunday morning and 219 landed in Mumbai on Saturday evening.
One of the flights carrying 249 stranded Indian nationals has departed from Romania's Bucharest for Delhi under operation Ganga on Monday.
The Indian Embassy in Kyiv has advised Indian citizens against moving to any of the border checkpoints without prior coordination with government officials at border posts.It said it is working continuously with Embassies in the neighbouring countries for coordinated evacuation of our citizens."All Indian Citizens in Ukraine are advised to not move to any of the border posts without prior coordination with Government of India officials at the border posts and the Emergency numbers of Embassy of India, Kyiv," the advisory read.
The embassy further advised Indians to stay in western cities of Ukraine where access to water, food, accommodation, and basic amenities is relatively safer.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the Ukraine crisis in which the PM said the evacuation of Indian students stranded in Ukraine should be the country's top priority. Earlier on Saturday, PM Modi spoke with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and expressed India's willingness to contribute in any way towards peace efforts. PM Modi expressed his deep anguish about the loss of life and property due to the ongoing conflict.
Notably, Russia on Friday (local time) vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Ukraine, while India, China, and UAE abstained from voting. The vote was 11 in favour, one against, and three abstentions. India has abstained from the vote but New Delhi has called for immediate de-escalation of the situation in Ukraine and advocated for a diplomatic solution.
Russia had on Monday recognized Ukraine's breakaway regions - Donetsk and Luhanussisk - as independent entities following which the situation escalated.
