New Delhi: As many as 15 flights are scheduled over the next 24 hours, said Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson MEA in a press briefing. Meanwhile, a special flight carrying Indians landed in Delhi. The evacuees were welcomed by Union Minister G Kishan Reddy at the airport.
Responding to a question on the current count of stranded Indians, he informed that nearly 17,000 Indians are left to be evacuated from Ukraine borders. In the last 24 hours, 6 flights under Op Ganga landed in India which took the total repatriation flights to 15 ferrying 3,352 so far.
Speaking about IAF engaging its troops in the operation, it is learnt that the first C-17 flight from Bucharest would land at the Hindan airbase in the latter half of the night. Nearly 200 stranded nationals are expected to be evacuated, sources added. As per the designated order, 3 more flights would depart to Budapest, Bucharest and Poland tonight.
It is further informed that the GoI has started to issue emergency certificates to those who lost their Indian passports.
As the land space in Kyiv is compromised, the Indian embassy has set up a temporary office at Lviv to facilitate border crossing, he elaborated. A substantial segment of the Indian Embassy is reported to be shifted to Lviv, while other segments are dynamically operating.