Ukraine crisis: 600 Indians flown out of Poland in three special flights

Few students were seen with the Indian Ambassador to Poland, Nagma Mohamed Mallick and other members of the Poland evacuation team at the Rzeszow airport.

The Indian Embassy in Warsaw tweeted, “600 Indians evacuated from Sumy flew out in 3 special flights out of Poland- the last of the Op Ganga flights! Some of the students are seen here with Amb Mallick and other members of the Poland evacuation team at Rzeszow airport.”

India on Friday expressed its gratitude to Ukraine, Russia and the Red Cross for helping it evacuate its citizens from various Ukrainian cities in the midst of the ongoing war.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in a post on Twitter, specifically mentioned that the evacuation of Indian students from the northeastern city of Sumy was “particularly challenging”.

Jaishankar also thanked the neighbouring countries of Ukraine — Romania, Hungary Poland, Slovakia and Moldova — for their “exceptional support” in bringing back the Indian nationals under the evacuation mission ‘Operation Ganga’.

“Operation Ganga, undertaken at the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered due to both leadership and commitment. We are thankful to all those who facilitated its objectives,” he said.

“Our particular gratitude to the authorities in Ukraine and Russia as well as the Red Cross for the evacuation assistance. Ukraine’s neighbours — Romania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Moldova gave us exceptional support. My sincerest thanks to them,” he added.

The external affairs minister also appreciated the role played by his ministerial colleagues Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri and General (Retd) VK Singh in the evacuation mission.

Puri, Rijiju, Scindia and Singh were in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Poland respectively to coordinate evacuation efforts.

India has evacuated more than 20,000 of its citizens from war-hit Ukraine under Operation Ganga. 

Earlier today, more flights carrying many Indian students from the City of Sumy in North-Eastern Ukraine landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital.