Operation Ganga: Special flight with 219 Indian evacuees from Ukraine reaches Delhi

A special IndiGo flight under Operation Ganga that departed from Hungary's capital Budapest, on Thursday, carrying 219 Indian nationals stranded in conflict-torn Ukraine reached Delhi today.

New Delhi: A special flight from Hungary carrying 219 Indian nationals stranded in conflict-torn Ukraine reached Delhi on Friday. The special IndiGo flight under Operation Ganga departed from Hungary's capital Budapest on Thursday. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik received the Indian students and interacted with them on their arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

"We are getting successful in evacuating all the stranded Indian students in Ukraine. The four ministers deployed under the guidance of PM Modi are working very hard. All evacuated students have a zeal and respect for India. They thanked the Government of India and were happy," Pramanik said.

The Ministry of External Affairs, in close coordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is making all efforts to bring the Indian students back to India at a fast pace. Four Union Ministers - Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) VK Singh -- have gone to countries adjoining Ukraine to support and supervise evacuation operations. Indian civilian planes as well as Indian Air Force planes are regularly bringing back stranded Indian students.

The Ministry of External Affairs said more than 7,400 persons are expected to be brought through special flights in the next two days. Further, 3,500 persons are expected to be brought back on Friday and over 3,900 on March 5. 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.

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