New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday and briefed him on various issues, including the Ukraine crisis, official sources said. The government has launched "Operation Ganga" to evacuate Indian citizens, mostly students, from Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia.
Sources said Modi briefed Kovind on the crisis and his government's efforts to bring back the Indian citizens stranded in the country. The government had on Monday decided to send four ministers to several neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation exercise.
An Air India Express flight carrying 182 Indian nationals evacuated from war-torn Ukraine landed Mumbai from the Romanian capital Bucharest on Tuesday, an airline spokesperson said. Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane received them at the Mumbai airport, the spokesperson said.
The ninth flight carrying 218 stranded Indian nationals has departed from the Romanian capital Bucharest for New Delhi under Operation Ganga, informed External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, at the high-level meeting on Monday evening over the Ukraine crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the entire government machinery is working round the clock to ensure that all Indians there are safe and secure, informed Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
This was the second high-level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister during the day over the prevailing situation in Ukraine. Government sources on Monday said that the 'Special Envoys' including Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) VK Singh will travel to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate evacuations of stranded Indians amid ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine.
On February 24, the Prime Minister chaired a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting in New Delhi on the Ukraine crisis.
