India has evacuated 1,377 citizens from war-torn Ukraine in the past 24 hours, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said today.
“Six flights have now departed for India in the last 24 hours, including the first flights from Poland. Carried back 1377 more Indian nationals from Ukraine," Mr Jaishankar said in a tweet.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla yesterday told reporters that no Indian is left in the Ukraine capital Kyiv.
After Russia's forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, the Government of India launched 'Operation Ganga' to bring back stranded Indian nationals from the conflict-torn Ukraine. As part of the 'Operation Ganga' mission, special flights are being operated free of cost. The first such evacuation flight carrying 219 Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine landed in Mumbai on February 26. Several such flights have landed in India so far. Indian Air Force (IAF) has also joined the government's evacuation efforts as its C-17 transport aircraft left for Romania in the early hours of Wednesday morning from the Hindan airbase near New Delhi.
24x7 control centres have been set up to assist in the evacuation of Indian nationals through the border crossing points with Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. A new route has been opened through Moldova and an MEA team is also now in place there and is operational. The team will assist in the evacuation of Indians through Romania.
A dedicated Twitter Account (@opganga) has been set up to assist Operation Ganga. 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.
