Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that more than 19,000 Indian nationals have been evacuated from war-torn Ukraine under Operation Ganga. He also said that the government is coordinating with countries to enable the safe return of Indians stranded in the country.
“It is a relieving moment for the nation that till now more than 19,000 Indian nationals have been evacuated from the war territory. Through Operation Ganga, the Indian government is cooperating with many countries for the evacuation,” PM Modi said during an interview to Amar Ujala.
India has launched “Operation Ganga” to evacuate its nationals and sent four Union ministers as the prime minister’s special envoys to Ukraine’s neighbours to coordinate the exercise.
“I have talked to many heads of the states and have told them that bringing back Indians safely to the country is our topmost priority… Those youths which I interacted with said that things were simplified after four ministers were sent there,” PM Modi added.
PM Modi also said that four union ministers are currently at the forefront for evacuation. Earlier, the prime minister had deputed four ministers to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine.
The PM sent petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri, aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, law minister Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) VK Singh, junior minister for civil aviation and urban development, to facilitate departure of stranded Indians through Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
PM Modi said that apart from regular scheduled flights, the government have deployed Indian Air Force for the mission. “When our youths return to the country and meet their families, it is a source of immense pleasure for us,” he added.
He also called another high-level meeting on Saturday evening to discuss the situation in war-hit Ukraine and India’s evacuation efforts to bring back its citizens, official sources said. Since Sunday, Modi has chaired a number of such meetings, as his government works to bring back Indian students who have been scrambling to leave Ukraine after Russia launched an attack on it.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal were part of the meeting chaired by Modi, besides several top bureaucrats.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told US Senators that Russian forces have now seized two Ukrainian nuclear power plants and are advancing toward a third. Zelenskyy said that the third plant under threat is the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant, that is located 120 kilometers north of Mykolaiv. Russia has already taken control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar and Chernobyl, which is not active but is still staffed and maintained.
India on Saturday said its main focus now is on the evacuation of around 700 Indian students stranded in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy which has been witnessing bombings and airstrikes. At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India hopes to evacuate its citizens from Kharkiv and Pisochyn in the next few hours.
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