Buses have been arranged to evacuate 298 Indian students from Pisochyn in the Kharkiv region, the embassy of India in Ukraine said on Saturday. The Ministry of external affairs on Friday had mentioned highest attention is on eastern Ukraine, particularly Kharkiv and Pisochin.
“We have managed to get some buses there. 5 buses are already operational, more buses later in the evening. About 900-1000 Indians were stranded in Pisochin and 700+ in Sumy. We are concerned about Sumy" Arindam Bagchi, Joint Secretary at Ministry of External Affairs.
“Over 20,000 Indians have left the Ukraine border since we issued our advisories," MEA said. There are more people left in the conflict zone, the MEA said, “it's reassuring to see that these many people have left Ukraine."
However, the government noted that evacuation looks difficult without a ceasefire. Bagchi said, “We urge the parties concerned- Ukraine & Russia, to have a local ceasefire at least, so that we can evacuate our people, students."
“But can't say we are moving downward (as of yet...)We will continue Operation Ganga till the last person gets evacuated. Roughly 2000-3000 (more Indians) likely to be there, the number can vary," Bagchi added.
The government had also informed on Friday that today, 11 special civilian flights are expected to bring back more than 2200 Indians, with 10 landing in New Delhi and one in Mumbai. 5 flights will originate from Budapest, 2 from Rzeszow and 4 from Suceava. Four C-17 aircraft are airborne for Romania, Poland and Slovakia, which are expected to reach on Saturday.
So far, over 9364 Indians have been evacuated by 43 special civilian flights. 7 flights of C-17 have so far evacuated 1428 passengers and taken 9.7 tonnes of relief material. Today’s civilian flights included 4 from Bucharest, 2 from Kosice, 4 from Budapest, 3 from Rzeszow and 2 from Suceava, while IAF flew 2 flights from Bucharest and 1 from Budapest, the government informed on Friday.
Under "Operation Ganga", Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Indian Air Force will be operated for the evacuees.
