The Ministry Of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said that during the evacuation process of Indians from war torn Ukraine, many foreign nationals were also evacuated from conflict zones and brought to India.
While speaking in the Rajya Sabha, External Affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar said, "In line with India's principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, foreign nationals were also evacuated from conflict zones and brought to India."
"They included 147 citizens of 18 countries and Many Ukrainian nationals that are family members of Indian nationals have also been evacuated," the minister added.
He also explained that Sumy evacuation was extremely complex as our students faced the prospect of being caught in crossfire.
"Their evacuation from the city needed a credible ceasefire, this finally materialised due to the personal intervention of PM himself with the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia," he added.
S Jaishankar was scheduled to make a statement on the prevailing situation in Ukraine at 2.30 pm in Rajya Sabha today.
In the second part of the Budget Session in Parliament, Jaishankar spoke on the rescue operation to evacuate Indian students from the war zone in Ukraine and what is India's stand vis-a-vis the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The Central government launched 'Operation Ganga' on February 24 to bring back stranded Indians from Ukraine.
Four Central ministers Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia and General (Retd) VK Singh were sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Ukraine's neighbouring countries to coordinate the efforts for the rescue of the stranded Indians.
So far, India has been able to rescue around 22,500 stranded citizens in more than 80 special evacuation flights. Through its 'Operations Ganga', India has also been able to rescue several citizens of the neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal.
During the operation, buses and trains brought Indians to the western borders of Ukraine and they were flown to India via locations like Bucharest, Budapest, Suceava, and Warsaw.
The last batch of over 600 students who were evacuated from Sumy was brought back to India via Poland.
In recent months, 'Operation Ganga' has been India's largest evacuation drive to bring back stranded Indians after operation 'Devi Shakti' was launched by the Narendra Modi government in Afghanistan last year.
(with agency inputs)
