Operation Ganga: Indian students feel relieved as special flight from Poland reaches Delhi

A special flight from Poland carrying Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine reached Delhi on Thursday.

Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Kailash Choudhary received the students at Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Choudhary said, "Students are happy about coming back home. It is a matter of relief for them since they came out of the conflict-torn country. They thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their safe evacuation. Our four Union Ministers are overseeing the evacuation. Sixteen flights have already reached. Around 15 flights will reach in 24 hours. More than 3,000 Indian nationals reached so far. The operation will continue till the last person is evacuated from there. Prime Minister himself monitoring the operation."

"Proper arrangements were made for the food and lodging of the Indian nationals (at the bordering countries of Ukraine. The four Ministers are taking stock of everything. Arrangements are also being done to send the passengers to their respective states reaching India. Another flight will reach Delhi after a few hours," he added.

Garima, who studies medicine in Chernivtsi, Ukraine told ANI, "The situation is very bad in Ukraine. There is a red alert in almost every city. It is very difficult to cross the border. There is no vehicle. It took us five days to reach India overall. Now I feel relieved."

Another medical student Vinya reached Delhi on the flight said, "The government conducted the evacuation swiftly. We reached comfortably. we are relieved."

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said nine flights took off on Thursday from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Poland.

"Nine flights have taken off today from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Poland. Includes IAF aircraft. 6 flights more are expected to depart shortly. Altogether, will bring back more than 3000 Indian nationals," tweeted Jaishankar.

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, eight flights under Operation Ganga have landed in India, taking the total number of flights to 17.

Out of these, nine flights were from Bucharest, five from Budapest and three from Rzeszow. 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 )