The C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) carrying 208 Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine left for Delhi from Poland's Rzeszow on Wednesday (local time) under Operation Ganga.
Amid ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine, Union Minister VK Singh on Tuesday landed in Poland to coordinate and oversee the evacuation process of Indian nationals from Ukraine. Singh is one of the four 'special envoys' deployed by the Government of India to oversee the evacuation process of Indian nationals in Ukraine's neighbouring countries.
Taking to Twitter, the Union Minister said, "Here at Rzeszow Airport in Poland where the impressive and dependable C-17 Globemaster has been called to take our students back home. Two Indigo flights also added to the numbers being brought back. Good to have all of our Indian students aboard on the IAF C-17 Globemaster ready to return to the safety of our motherland."
Singh interacted with the Indian nationals before the departure of the aircraft.
A total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in Ukraine.
The students who left Ukraine also included some Indians who had not registered with the Embassy of India in Kyiv previously.
Flights under Operation Ganga have been increased. During the last 24 hours, six flights under Operation Ganga have landed in India, taking the total number of flights to 15. Out of these, 8 flights were from Bucharest, 5 from Budapest and 2 from Rzeszow.
The total number of Indians who have returned onboard these flights is 3,352. Out of these, 1796 were evacuated through Romania, 430 through Poland and 1126 through Hungary. As many as 15 flights are scheduled over the next 24 hours, many of which are already en route.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting on the issue. The meeting was attended by Union Ministers S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other officials.For the past few days, the Prime Minister has been chairing crucial meetings on the issue.
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. These countries have also promised Ukraine to help with military aid to fight Russia.
The US, Canada and European allies agreed to remove key Russian banks from the interbank messaging system, SWIFT which means Russian banks won't be able to communicate securely with banks beyond Russia's borders. President Putin has also signed a decree on special economic measures against the US and its allies.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor