Students who were filled will joy after landing in their home state Uttar Pradesh's capital city Varanasi expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian government for their safe evacuation amid the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with students who returned to India from Ukraine, in Varanasi today.
"We were losing hope when our flights got canceled for returning to India. But when the Indian embassy and government started evacuation efforts, we regained our hopes and finally reached India safely. All thanks to the Indian government and PM Modi for helping us," a student said.
Another student who reached Varanasi today also said, "Indian government has provided us with a lot of facilities. We did not face any problems while returning from Ukraine. A lot of students have reached here and many will reach in the coming days. Thank you Modi sir for saving our lives."
"Indian government saved our lives. I would like to thank our government for saving us. I am sure that all the nationals will reach home safely," a student said.
"When Russia started military operations on February 24, we felt that we will never be able to reach India back. We literally felt our death on our heads for the two days. We are proud of our government, country, and Prime Minister. It's an honour for us to be born in this country," another student.
One more student present there said, "My parents were taking your (PM Modi) name after god because they knew that you are the only one who can save us and bring us back from Ukraine safely. I can't even express how thankful we all are to you."
PM Modi also said that the Indian government is safely evacuating the nationals despite numerous difficulties faced by them.
"I know that you all have faced a lot of difficulties at this early age in Ukraine and that too alone. But we are safely evacuating the nationals despite so many problems there," PM Modi said.
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.
In a bid to further scale up the evacuation efforts, the government has deployed 80 flights under 'Operation Ganga' to evacuate stranded Indians from Ukraine.
The government has also roped in more than two dozen Ministers to monitor evacuation missions without any hiccups, sources toldon Thursday.
By March 10, a total of 80 flights will be pressed into service to evacuate the stranded Indians. These flights belong to the fleet of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Spice Jet, Vistara, Go Air, and also planes from the Air Force.
The Prime Minister has been chairing crucial meetings on the issue in the last few days.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.
( With inputs from ANI )
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