PM Modi chairs meet; 4 Ministers to visit Ukraine's neighbours to handle evacuation

In a major development on Monday, the Centre decided to send 4 Union Ministers to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the safe evacuation of students from the war-hit nation and extend assistance to them. This was decided in a high-level meeting chaired by PM Modi earlier in the day on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. As per sources, Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) VK Singh will be going to neighboring countries of Ukraine as Special Envoys of India. 

Under the aegis of Operation Ganga, the Union government is aiming to evacuate Indians from Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia at its own expense as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian flights. Until now, 5 evacuation flights carrying nearly 1156 nationals have reached India. The latest flight from Bucharest with 249 Indians on board landed in the national capital a few hours ago. 

India focuses on the safety of stranded citizens

So far, India has abstained from voting on two resolutions pertaining to the Russia-Ukraine war at the United Nations Security Council. Meanwhile, PM Modi has spoken to both the Russian president as well as the Ukrainian president amid the ongoing war. During his discussion with Putin, the PM reiterated that the differences between Russia and the NATO group can only be resolved through honest and sincere dialogue.

Calling for concerted efforts from all sides to return to the path of diplomatic negotiations and dialogue, he also raised concerns about the safety of Indian citizens in Ukraine. 

Intensifying Operation Ganga, the Ministry of External Affairs has set up 24x7 control centres to assist Indians for reaching the border crossing points of Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. Moreover, it has also has launched a dedicated Twitter handle pertaining to this mission. Addressing a press briefing on Sunday evening, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla highlighted that India had issued advisories urging citizens to temporarily leave Ukraine even before the commencement of the military operation by Russia. 

Shringla was quoted as saying by ANI, "4,000 of our nationals left before the conflict pursuant to these advisories. We estimated at that time 15,000 of our citizens were left in Ukraine when Op Ganga commenced. Since the air space in Ukraine was closed after the conflict commence, we identified land evacuation options through four neighbouring countries- Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia."

He added, "We are aware of the number of Indian citizens, particularly students, who continue to be in cities in the east of Ukraine and southeast Ukraine. Unfortunately, these areas continue to be in conflict areas and it is generally deemed unsafe for people to move around freely. We will try to find suitable evacuation modalities for them. Once feasible, our Embassy in Kyiv will try to maintain contact, we have also tried to maintain contact daily. We keep issuing advisories to them as we go along."