The government of India has launched ‘Operation Ganga’, a multi-prong evacuation plan to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine. According to Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, thousands of Indian citizens have already been flown out of Ukraine. They have been evacuated from Ukraine through the land routes. Moreover, thousands of Indian students have crossed over from Ukraine into zones conducive for their evacuation by air route to India.
It is stated that the Indian government is bearing the cost of evacuation due to the emergency situation pending in Ukraine. It has also issued a number of advisories requesting Indian citizens to leave Ukraine. So far, 4,000 Indians left even before the conflict and around 15,000 of Indian citizens were in Ukraine when Operation Ganga commenced.
As air space in Ukraine was closed after the attack, land evacuation options through four neighbouring countries- Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have been identified. Specific border crossing points were identified and the Ministry of External Affairs had deployed teams with Russian speaking officers to assist in the evacuation process. A 24×7 control room has been set up in the Indian Embassy in Kylv.
