It took three Air Force planes to land at the Hindon airbase near Delhi with 629 Indians from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries on board.
India has been taking its citizens out of war-torn Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, like Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland, because the Ukrainian airspace has been closed since February 24 because of a Russian military attack on the country.
So far, the Indian Air Force has flown ten sorties to bring back 2,056 passengers as part of Operation Ganga.
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They took off from the Hindon airbase on Friday, it said. All three were C-17 heavy-lift transport planes, which can carry many people and goods.
“These flights took 629 Indians out of Romania, Slovakia, and Poland, where they had been living. 16.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid from India were also sent on these flights, “said something more.
There will also be 11 more special civilian flights that will land today, with more than 2,200 Indians from Ukraine’s neighbours. In addition, four C-17 planes are on their way to Romania, Poland, and Slovakia. They are expected to arrive late at night and early this morning.
At least 1,000 Indians are still stuck in conflict zones in eastern Ukraine, the government said on Friday, adding that figuring out how to get them out is the biggest problem right now. There are 700 Indians in Sumy and 300 in Kharkiv.
“We will keep going with Operation Ganga until the last person leaves. Indians are likely to be in Ukraine at least 2,000-3,000. The number can change. “A spokeswoman for the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, said this at a meeting.
“Our main goal is to get Indian students out of conflict zones in the east of Ukraine. We want both sides (Russia and Ukraine) to develop ways to get our people out. A local truce would help, “he said more.
He said that about 20,000 Indians have left Ukraine since India issued its first travel warnings in mid-February and that many of them came from India.
He said 15 planes came to India as part of the evacuation mission in the last 24 hours, and they brought back more than 3,000 people from the country.
