Amid growing concerns about Indian students stranded in war-torn Ukraine, Union Minister Bhupender Yadav today received 183 Indian students evacuated from the crisis-stricken country. As part of Operation Ganga - India's evacuation mission for its nationals - the Minister said 2,200 Indians are expected to land in India today.
"Received 183 of our Indian students stranded in Ukraine who returned to the Motherland today.
More than 2,200 Indians are expected to be back home today.
The government is leaving no stone unturned in bringing back its citizens from the conflict zone.
#OperationGanga," he tweeted this morning.
Following desperate pleas by Indian students stuck amidst a raging war, India's foreign ministry yesterday said that it has "strongly pressed" the Russian and Ukrainian governments through multiple channels for an immediate ceasefire to create a safe corridor for its students. It also claimed that the ministry and Indian embassies are in regular touch with the students, who have been posting desperate and emotional pleas to be evacuated from the conflict-stricken region.
The Indian Embassy in Kyiv on Saturday (local time) claimed that all Indian nationals have been evacuated from the Pisochyn city of Ukraine.
Around 13,300 people have returned to India from Ukraine so far by 63 flights under Operation Ganga, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday, adding that 15 flights have landed in the last 24 hours carrying around 2,900 onboard.
This comes soon after Indian students stranded in northeast Ukraine's Sumy city shared videos saying they have decided to take a risky journey to the Russian border that's 50 kilometres away. In what they claimed would be their "last video" from Sumy, they said the Indian government and its embassy in Ukraine would be responsible if anything happened to them.
The students have, however, decided not to leave after they were contacted by the embassy.
At least 1,000 Indians - 700 in Sumy and 300 in Kharkiv - are still stranded in conflict zones in eastern Ukraine, the government said on Friday, adding that arranging buses to evacuate them was proving to be the biggest challenge right now.
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