As Government of India has already started evacuation of stranded Indians from the war torn Ukraine amid Russian invasion, Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla on Sunday said that the Central Government has launched 'multi-pronged' Operation Ganga to evacuate Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine.
He said that the evacuation process cost will be bored by the government.
Shringla further said, "Since the airspace in Ukraine was closed, we identified land evacuation options from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania." "Specific border crossing points were identified and the MEA had deployed teams to assist in the evacuation process," he added.
The foreign secretary further informed that Indian Embassy in Kyiv and External Affairs Ministry had issued a number of advisories prior to the situation developing.
"4000 of our nationals had left before the conflict, pursuant to these advisories and we estimated that about 15,000 citizens were left in Ukraine," he added.
He also said, "I called in both ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine separately, conveyed my concerns on safety of Indian citizens." "I've shared the locations where Indian citizens are concentrated. Both ambassadors took note of our concerns and assured us of the safety of Indian citizens," added Shringla.
Further speaking about the evacuation ahead, he said, "Border crossing to Hungary & Romania is functioning, however, the exit point to Poland is clogged due to lakhs of foreign nationals trying to escape from that point."
"Those who are near the borders of Hungary and Romania are guided towards their border points in phases," he explained.
Meanwhile, As many as 688 Indian nationals returned here on Sunday from Ukraine on board three Air India evacuation flights from Romanian capital Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that approximately 13,000 Indians are stranded in Ukraine as of now, and the government is making efforts to bring them back as soon as possible.
Following the Russian military offensive against Ukraine, India has brought back a total of 907 stranded citizens from that country since Saturday when the first evacuation flight from Bucharest with 219 people on board landed in Mumbai under Operation Ganga.
