Indian Embassy in Hungary begins last leg of Operation Ganga; shares details

As India continues to evacuate stranded nationals from Ukraine amid Russia's invasion, the Embassy of India has begun its last leg of Operation Ganga flights today, March 6. The Embassy requested all the students staying in their own accommodation to reach Hungaria City Centre, Rakoczi Ut 90, Budapest between 10 am-12 pm. 

In an earlier tweet, the embassy had requested its stranded nationals to fill up a form mentioning basic details. 

On Sunday, a special flight carrying 183 stranded Indian nationals from Ukraine landed in Delhi. The special flight had departed from Hungary’s capital Budapest on Saturday under India's evacuation mission, 'Operation Ganga'. Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav received the passengers at Indira Gandhi International Airport and further interacted with the students. 

India evacuates citizens from Ukraine

Considering the intensifying war situation in Ukraine, the Indian government has brought back stranded Indian citizens including students in record numbers. In a statement, the government on Saturday mentioned that India has flown about 13,700 stranded nationals back to safety from in war-hit Ukraine on special flights that were started last week. Special flights are being operated free of cost as part of the ‘Operation Ganga’ mission. 

In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for another high-level meeting and discussed the situation in Ukraine and India's evacuation efforts to bring back its citizens, official sources said. 

While on March 5, over 3,000 people reached the country on 15 flights- 12 civilian and 3 Air force aircraft. Considering the safety of thousands of people as shelling continues in the major cities of war-hit Ukraine, the government has been operating special flights to the neighbouring countries including Poland, Slovak Republic, Romania, and Hungary. It is to be noted that since February 24, when the Russian military offensive began, the Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations. 

In a tweet, the Indian embassy in Ukraine said that all Indian citizens have been evacuated from the city of Pisochyn. While the next focus is Ukraine's Sumy. 

In a recent update to the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia's Defence Ministry on Saturday declared a partial ceasefire to allow humanitarian corridors out of the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha.