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Roughly 600 Indians, mostly students, arrived in India in three flights on Friday, capping a dramatic scramble to pull out thousands of Indian citizens who were in Ukraine when Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded the country last month. The group of 600 was stuck in Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine where fighting had become severe and concerns about their safety grew, with many sending SOS messages to the Indian government.
“We were there for 13 days. On the first day, on February 24, when Russia attacked, we were fine. We thought that situations will get better. But by the fourth and fifth days, everyone started panicking as we heard reports that Indian students from other cities were heading to the country’s borders from where they were getting evacuated. We were not able to do the same. We could not even step outside our hostels and had to manage without basic necessities inside while there was intense bombing and airstrikes,” said Shweta Raj,22, a third year medical student at Sumy State University, who arrived at the Hindon Airbase. “On our way to Poltava, we saw a big army of Russian troops with their military tanks. It was a 2-3 kilometers long queue of tanks,” said Raj.
After the students reached Poltova, they took a train to Lyiv. “After reaching Lyiv, we were again greeted by Indian embassy officials,” said Ashwin, from Patiala, Punjab.
The Indian government carried out Operation Ganga to help Indian citizens reach back home. The bulk of the effort was concentrated in five countries neighbouring Ukraine to which people fleeing the war-torn country made their way to.
Five Cabinet ministers — Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri and VK Singh — were dispatched to these countries where they oversaw the rescue operations. In the case of Sumy, India send in embassy officials to parts of Ukraine with fierce fighting to help arrange transport for the stranded compatriots.
“Students from Sumy are returning today to India. Their evacuation was particularly challenging,” said Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar in a statement, according to news agency ANI. “We are thankful to all those who facilitated its (Operation Ganga’s) objectives. Ukraine’s neighbours- Romania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Moldova gave us exceptional support. My sincerest thanks to them,” he further said. The returnees on Friday came on three flights: an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 heavy lift aircraft and commercial jets flown each by Air India and IndiGo.
With Agency Inputs)
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