'Operation Ganga' was started on February 22 to airlift Indians from Ukraine.
India will wind up Operation Ganga -- the evacuation programme for Indian nationals from war-torn Ukraine -- and by tomorrow evening, the last flight will take off, bringing home the government teams sent specially for the evacuation, sources have told NDTV. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the government has evacuated around 18,000 Indian nationals, most of them students.
The last batch of students -- nearly 700 stranded in Sumy near the Russian border -- are on way to western Ukraine on train, from where they will take home-bound flights.
Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia today tweeted that the last special flight from Romania was taking off.
On Monday, Mr Scindia, who was overseeing operations on the ground from Bucharest, tweeted: "Reassuring calls to parents, bright eyes & wide smiles - our last flight back to India is full of cheer, as 155 people onboard with us return to their homeland. All set to take off!"
The 'Operation Ganga' was started on February 22 to airlift Indians from Ukraine. After Ukraine closed its airspace on February 24 after the Russian invasion, the flights took off from Ukraine's neighbouring countries.
Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine's breakaway regions, Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics.