IAF C-17 plane departed for Romania in the wee hours to evacuate Indians from Ukraine;
Today, three additional Indian Air Force planes will go to Poland, Hungary, and Romania to pick up Indians who have been deported from Ukraine. Under Operation Ganga, a C-17 Globemaster took flight at 4 a.m. this morning for Romania. Officials from the International Aviation Federation
An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 cargo aircraft left for Romania in the early hours of Wednesday morning, bolstering the government’s efforts to evacuate Indian people stranded in Ukraine, the plane took off from Hindan airbase.
This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a high-level meeting on Tuesday to evaluate efforts to repatriate Indians stranded in Ukraine and requested that the Indian Air Force join the Operation Ganga evacuation efforts.
Following the commencement of Russian military activities in Ukraine on February 24, the Indian government began ‘Operation Ganga’ to return trapped Indian people back to India from the conflict-torn country. Special flights are being flown at no cost as part of the ‘Operation Ganga’ campaign. On February 26, the first such evacuation flight, carrying 219 Indian people stranded in Ukraine, arrived in Mumbai. So far, several of such flights have landed in the country.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla stated on Tuesday that all Indian nationals have left Kyiv, with over 60% of Indians in Ukraine having already left. He claimed that out of an estimated 20,000 Indian citizens in Ukraine, 60% have departed since the government issued its initial advisory.
“Of the remaining 40%, around half are still in the battle zone in Kharkiv, while the other half have either arrived or are on their way to Ukraine’s western border.” “They’re mostly out of conflict zones,” Shringla explained.
