Operation Ganga: Govt Releases List of Flights For Evacuation of Indians from Ukraine

a fourth evacuation flight carrying 198 Indians from Romanian capital Bucharest left for India on Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said. 

New Delhi: Following the closure of Ukranian airspace, India is facilitating evacuation of stranded Indians from Ukraine through its land border crossings with Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia under ‘Operation Ganga’. On Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs released the list of flights being run from India for evacuation of Indians from Ukraine via neighboring countries.

The Ministry of External Affairs addressed a press briefing over the prevailing situation in Ukraine amid Russian invasion and said that the border crossings to Hungary and Romania are functioning but the exit point to Poland is clogged due to lakhs of foreign nationals trying to escape from there.

List of flights for operation Ganga for Evacuation of Indians from Ukraine via neighboring countries: Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla pic.twitter.com/AmrOrxHeuA

— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2022

Here are key takeaways from Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla press briefing:

• The Government of India has launched ‘multi-pronged’ Operation Ganga to evacuate our citizens stranded in Ukraine. This evacuation process will be at government cost
• Since the airspace in Ukraine was closed, we identified land evacuation options from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania.
• Specific border crossing points were identified and the MEA had deployed teams to assist in the evacuation process
• Our Embassy in Kyiv and our Ministry had issued a number of advisories prior to the situation developing. 4000 of our nationals had left before the conflict, pursuant to these advisories. We estimated that about 15,000 citizens were left in Ukraine
• Border crossing to Hungary and Romania is functioning, however, the exit point to Poland is clogged due to lakhs of foreign nationals trying to escape from that point. Those who are near the borders of Hungary and Romania are guided towards their border points in phases\
• So far under Operation Ganga, thousand of our citizens have been flown out of Romani and Hungary and another thousand have been evacuated from Ukraine through land routes. Flights have been organised for them
• I called in both ambassadors of Russia & Ukraine separately, conveyed my concerns on safety of Indian citizens. I’ve shared the locations where Indian citizens are concentrated. Both ambassadors took note of our concerns & assured us of the safety of Indian citizens

Meanwhile, a fourth evacuation flight carrying 198 Indians from Romanian capital Bucharest left for India on Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.