Seven flights have brought back Indian nationals.
India is sending humanitarian aid and medical supplies to Kyiv at Ukraine’s request.
The quantity of humanitarian relief and medical supplies is being worked out.
The teams from Indian embassies in Europe are being sent to the countries bordering Ukraine.
They will be assisting the evacuation efforts taken by four union ministers who will leave for Kyiv on February 28, 2022.
Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and General VK Singh will be expediting the evacuation efforts from Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Slovenia and Poland.
It is understood that the decision to provide humanitarian relief to Ukraine was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 27, 2022.
It was after the meeting that the Centre decided to send the four ministers to Ukraine for the evacuation efforts.
Meanwhile, India has now identified Moldova as the new land route to transfer Indian nationals.
India has been aggressively carrying out its evacuation mission to bring back Indians stranded from war-hit Ukraine.
Under Operation Ganga, seven flights have brought back Indian nationals from the eastern European country.
With the Ukrainian airspace shut due to the Russian invasion, the Indian government has been ferrying Indian citizens to the Romanian border.
From there, the evacuated Indians are then taken to Bucharest which is a nine-hour drive from the border.
The evacuated Indians then board an Air India flight which then takes off to India.
We will send humanitarian aid including medicines to Ukraine: MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi pic.twitter.com/uj6VocixkL
— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2022
Indian students stranded in Ukraine are also seeking help from the Indian embassy as well as the government to fly home amid the Russian invasion.
On February 25, 2022, Chief Minister MK Stalin said the government would bear the expense of bringing back students from Ukraine.
He wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar urging him to arrange flights to evacuate students.
He said the government had received hundreds of distress calls from the family members of the students in Ukraine.
Videos of stranded students seeking immediate Indian intervention were shared widely on social media.
Parents of the students approached district collectors’ offices to request their evacuation.
Muthamizhan Sekar, a student at Luhansk State Medical University, said there were around 800 Indian students in Vinnytsia.
The 26-year-old said:
“The Indian embassy also informed us to be confident and safe.”
Speaking to The Indian Express from Ukraine, Muthamizhan said the students didn’t expect such a situation.
“The issue is that if we need any instant help, we are not able to get in touch with the embassy because the lines remain engaged for long periods.”