India successfully evacuated over 15,920 students from Ukraine via 76 flights
Mar 06, 2022
Bucharest [Romania], March 6 : Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said the government has successfully evacuated over 15,920 students via 76 flights from conflict-ridden Ukraine.
"Operation Ganga Update: We have successfully evacuated over 15920 students via 76 flights. Breakup - Romania - 6680 (31 flights), Poland - 2822 (13 flights), Hungary - 5300 (26 flights), Slovakia - 1118 (6 flights)," Scindia said in a tweet.
Earlier in the day, the Indian Embassy had said that the last leg of 'Operation Ganga' has begun, asking the stranded students to reach the Hungarian City Center in Budapest.
Separately Indian Embassy in Kyiv also urged its nationals who are still in Ukraine to register themselves for the evacuation process under 'Operation Ganga'.
Meanwhile, the MEA yesterday informed that almost all Indians have left Kharkiv city of Ukraine and the main focus of the government is to evacuate citizens from Sumy as it is challenging amid ongoing violence and lack of transportation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent four special envoys to Ukraine's neighbouring countries from where Indians are being evacuated.
Four cabinet ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiran Rijiju, General (Retd) VK Singh, and Hardeep Singh Puri have been on the job for the last many days. A former diplomat Hardeep Puri has been stationed in Hungary to coordinate their efforts to evacuate Indian students here.
Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine's breakaway regions - Donetsk and Luhansk -as independent entities. Several countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia's military operations in Ukraine and imposed sanctions on Moscow.