Ukraine Crisis: An Air India flight to Ukraine made a u-turn and returned to Delhi yesterday.
Indians stranded in Ukraine in the middle of the Russian attack will be flown back from its neighbouring countries by the government, sources said today.
The government is organising evacuation flights for Indians in Ukraine, the sources said, adding that the cost will be completely borne by the government. Two chartered flights are likely to leave for Bucharest today and one flight will head to Budapest tomorrow.
Ukraine shut its airspace shortly after Russia declared war on the country and launched an attack in major cities.
An Air India flight to Ukraine capital Kyiv made a u-turn and returned to Delhi yesterday.
Later, the government decided to send its teams to Ukraine's borders with Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia to evacuate its citizens stuck in the country.
The officials are travelling on land, as the Ukrainian airspace has been closed amid an onslaught by the Russian military.
Nearly 16,000 Indians are stranded in Ukraine as Russian forces carry out an attack by land, air, and sea on the former Soviet republic. Those closest to the border check points in Hungary and Romania have been advised to leave first. The foreign ministry urged the students to be in touch with student contractors "for orderly movement".
India has assured all its citizens in Ukraine that they will take all possible efforts to bring them back safely.
India has identified safe routes that they plan to use to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine. "The safe routes have been identified. By road, if you go from Kyiv, you would reach Poland in nine hours and Romania in nearly 12 hours. The road has been mapped out," said Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India's Foreign Secretary.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said India attaches the highest priority to the safe exit and return of Indians in Ukraine.
The Indian embassy in Ukraine, Hungary and Poland have issued several advisories to citizens in Ukraine. These advisories also contain information like how to find a bomb shelter when in need. The embassy has asked people to turn away if they were heading to the capital Kyiv and return to the cities they live in.
Hungary will open a humanitarian corridor for citizens from countries like Iran or India fleeing Ukraine, letting them in without visa and taking them to the nearest airport which is Debrecen, the Hungarian foreign minister said. Peter Szijjarto also said in a video posted on his Facebook page that crossing from Ukraine was continuous at five crossing points but cars were queuing for up to 3-5 kilometres on the Ukrainian side.