India is expected to end evacuation exercises – Ganga operations – on Thursday, an official said urging some of the remaining Indians to choose the last flight from Ukraine.
Immediately after the announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called his colleague Hungary Viktor Orban to thank him for facilitating the transfer of Indian citizens through the Ukrainian-Hungarian border and to organize them.
Ganga surgery was launched to evacuate the National Day of India after Russian forces stormed Ukraine on February 24. Until Tuesday, around 17100 Indians had been brought back at 83 flights. During surgery, buses and trains brought Indians to the western border of Ukraine and they were flown back to India through locations such as Bucharest, Budapest, Suceava and Warsaw.
The focus of the operation quickly evolved to save a large number of Indian students registered at the medical universities located in the capital Kyiv, and other education centers such as Kharkiv, Sumy and Lviv. The difficulty in evacuating students from Kharkiv and Sumy pushed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to summon Russian President Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine. Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar also maintains communication with the Ukrainian partner Dmytro Kuleba on the safety of Indians who were arrested in the “life conflict zone”.
Apart from the students and professionals, three Indian sailor batches have also been evacuated from the Port of Odessa, a official said.
Hungary’s gesture
“The Prime Minister of Oraban expressed his best hopes for Indian medical students evacuated from Ukraine, and said they could choose to continue their studies in Hungary if they hoped,” said the government’s press release. The last batch of students shifted early Wednesday morning in a bus convoy from Sumy, which was the focus of a strong military drive by the Russia. The students are expected to fly home on Thursday.
Special flights that raise Indians from Ukraine free of charge, along with several citizens of Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and at least one Pakistani student, needed because Ukraine closed its territory after President Vladimir Putin ordered “special military operations”. Under Ganga surgery, the Indian Embassy in Kyiv is supported by an Indian mission in Hungary, Romania, Poland and the Slovak Republic.
Additional Indian diplomatic staff to support the Indian mission in the area in a hurry from Israel, Turkey, Russia and headquarters here. All frontline missions are also assisted by Russian-language officials from India. A joint secretary level officer was declared coordinated with all missions and personnel in the land in Ukraine.
22,000 have returned
According to the Minister of External Affairs, around 22,000 Indian citizens who are studying or employed in Ukraine have returned because military tensions increase in January. Operation is supervised by the control room in the MEA and also at the Indian Embassy in Eastern Europe. According to the latest estimates, the MEA control room attended 12582 calls and 9131 emails from individuals stranded in Ukraine.
Responding to the question of the existence of Indians among those who fight Russian forces in Ukraine, an official says Indians have been urged not to travel to Ukraine remembering military conflict, indicating that individuals can be responsible for their actions.