Pune (Maharashtra) [India], March 2 (ANI): Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Wednesday said that of the 20,000 Indians stuck in Ukraine, over 6,000 people have been brought back to India so far and the Centre is making all efforts to bring back the remaining.
Speaking to reporters here, Muraleedharan said, “Around 20,000 Indians were stuck in Ukraine. Of these, 4000 people returned by February 24. Till yesterday, over 2000 more people have returned. We are trying to bring back the remaining Indians via Romania, Poland Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova.”
The minister MoS MEA V Muraleedharan interacted with parents of students who are stranded in several parts of Ukraine and updated them on the Government’s rescue operations under Operation Ganga.
Three IAF aircraft have been sent to Romania and Hungary since this morning to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine. One more is scheduled for Poland later today. “The evacuation operation will run round the clock. Relief materials are also being sent. The operation is underway in coordination with MEA,” Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sandeep Singh said today.
IAF have deployed C-17 aircraft as part of the evacuation efforts in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs under ‘Operation Ganga’. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Tuesday to review the efforts to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine and asked the Indian Air Force to join the evacuation efforts under ‘Operation Ganga’. (ANI)
Russia-Ukraine crisis: SpiceJet to operate four more special flights to Slovakia, Romania to evacuate stranded Indians
New Delhi [India], March 2 (ANI): SpiceJet will operate special evacuation flights from Kosice in Slovakia on March 3 and 4 and from Bucharest in Romania on March 4 and 6 to bring back home Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine. The airline will use its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for these special flights.
SpiceJet will operate ferry flights to Kosice on March 2 and 3 from Delhi and to Bucharest from Delhi and Amritsar on March 4 and 5. The airline has already operated two evacuation flights under ‘Operation Ganga’.
SpiceJet’s evacuation flight from Budapest with Indian students will be arriving at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi at 6.30 pm today. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday deputed four Union Ministers to neighboring countries of Ukraine to coordinate evacuations of stranded Indians amid ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine.
Other ministers deputed to manage evacuations include Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia in Romania and Molodova, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri in Hungary and Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport Gen (Retd) VK Singh in Poland.
This is the second evacuation flight being operated by SpiceJet under ‘Operation Ganga’ after a special flight left yesterday night for Budapest, Hungary from New Delhi. The airline is in discussion with the concerned authorities to operate more evacuation flights in the coming days.
The Union government has launched ‘Operation Ganga’ to bring back stranded students and Indian citizens from the conflict-torn Ukraine. Special flights are being operated by Air India and other airlines as part of the ‘Operation Ganga’ mission.
Earlier on Monday, the ministry of external affairs said that India has evacuated over 8,000 nationals since the initial advisories were issued by the country. (ANI)
IAF can send 4 aircraft daily, bring 200 in one round, says Vice Chief of Air Staff
New Delhi [India], March 2 (ANI): Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sandeep Singh on Wednesday said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) can send up to four aircraft to help the Centre’s efforts to evacuate Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine under ‘Operation Ganga‘. He also informed that the four aircraft can bring back 200 people on each trip.
Addressing a press conference, Singh assured that the Air Force would safely bring back stranded Indians in Ukraine, and said, “IAF can send four aircraft in a day to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine, and 200 people will be brought back in one round. I am sure we will bring all our people back safely.” He apprised that, since today morning, three IAF aircraft have been sent to evacuate Indians.
“The evacuation operation will run round the clock. Relief materials are also being sent. The operation is underway in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA),” Singh said.
Notably, another IAF aircraft is scheduled to fly to Poland to facilitate the evacuation of stranded Indians. The Vice Chief of Air Staff informed that the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States will not affect the IAF significantly. “India’s relations with both countries are strong,” he added.
The US President Joe Biden has announced the suspension of flights from Russia in the US airspace and has also said that they are cutting off Russia’s largest banks from the international financial system and preventing Russia’s central bank from defending the Russian Ruble making Putin’s USD 630 Billion “war fund” worthless.
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 to facilitate returns of the stranded Indians 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 the country so far.
The 24×7 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 stationed there. 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. In a bid to energize the evacuation efforts, the Government of India appointed four special envoys who will oversee evacuation operations of stranded Indians in Ukraine‘s neighbouring countries. Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri will oversee evacuation efforts in Hungary, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in Slovakia, Gen (retd) VK Singh in Poland while Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will be going to Romania and will also go to Moldova.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held several meetings so far to review the ongoing efforts under ‘Operation Ganga‘ to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine. He has also said that India will help people from neighbouring countries and developing countries who are stranded in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla informed on Tuesday that all Indian nationals have left Kyiv and nearly 60 per cent of Indians in Ukraine have left the country so far. He said that out of an estimated 20,000 Indian citizens in Ukraine, 60 per cent have left the country since the first advisory was issued by the government.”Of the remaining 40 per cent, roughly half remain in the conflict zone in Kharkiv and the other half have either reached the western border of Ukraine or are heading towards the western border. They are generally out of conflict areas,” Shringla said.
An Indian student, Naveen Shekharappa died in Ukraine‘s Kharkiv following shelling in the area on Tuesday. He hailed from the Haveri district in Karnataka. PM Modi has spoken to the father of Naveen Shekharappa to express his condolences. (ANI)
