INDIA: In the middle of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked for a high-level meeting to discuss the situation and the safety of Indian nationals stranded in the war-torn eastern European country.
According to sources, Prime Minister Modi has called a high-level meeting on the Ukraine crisis on Monday. Some Union Ministers may travel to Ukraine’s neighboring countries to coordinate the evacuation of Indian nationals, they added.
According to reports, top ministers such as Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, and Gen V K Singh may travel to Ukraine’s neighboring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission assist students.
Prime Minister Modi stated on Sunday that the government would do everything possible to bring back all citizens who have become stranded in Ukraine. PM Modi said at a rally in Basti, “We are relocating thousands of Indians through Operation Ganga. Our sons and daughters who are still stranded in Ukraine will be returned. The government is working for them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we have left no stone unturned to bring our citizens back wherever there was trouble.”
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has already set up a dedicated Twitter handle, “OpGanga Helpline”, to help with the evacuation of Indian nationals from war-torn Ukraine. The mission to rescue stranded Indians in Ukraine has been dubbed “Operation Ganga.”
India has also established round-the-clock “control centers” in Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia to assist in evacuating Indian nationals from Ukraine via these countries’ border crossing points.
Meanwhile, Air India’s two evacuation flights from Bucharest, Romania, and Budapest, Hungary, carrying 490 Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine, landed at the Delhi airport on Sunday morning.
On Saturday, India began the evacuation of its stranded citizens in the midst of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine. The first evacuation flight, AI1944, returned 219 people from Bucharest to Mumbai.
According to officials, the second evacuation flight, AI1942, left Bucharest with 250 Indian citizens and arrived at the Delhi airport around 2.45 a.m. on Sunday. According to officials, Air India’s third evacuation flight, AI1940, took off from Budapest with 240 Indian nationals and landed at the Delhi airport around 9.20 a.m. on Sunday.
According to an Air India spokesperson, the airline’s fourth evacuation flight with evacuees will arrive from Bucharest to Delhi on Sunday afternoon. According to the spokesperson, the carrier plans to send two more planes to Bucharest and Budapest on Sunday to operate the fifth and sixth evacuation flights, but this is “all highly tentative.”
Since the Russian military offensive on February 24th, the Ukrainian airspace has been closed to civil aircraft operations. As a result, Indian evacuation flights operate out of Bucharest and Budapest.
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