IAF evacuates 629 Indian nationals within 24 hours under Operation Ganga

Russia-Ukraine War News Updates: Three C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force landed back at Hindan air base on Saturday morning with 629 Indian nationals evacuated from Romania, Slovakia and Poland.

Three C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft of the IAF, which had taken off yesterday from the Hindan air base in Uttar Pradesh, landed back at Hindan Saturday morning. These flights evacuated 629 Indian nationals from Ukraine's neighbouring countries - Romania, Slovakia and Poland. These flights also carried 16.5 tonnes of relief load from India to these countries.

So far, the IAF has flown 10 flights to bring back 2056 passengers, while taking 26 tonnes of relief load to these countries, as part of Operation Ganga.

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A number of Indian students from Ukraine are moving into the Russian territory from the Ukrainian side with assistance from the Indian government. India has, so far, deployed only C-17s and commercial planes to bring back Indian citizens from Poland, Romania and Hungary.

"Operation Ganga" is an initiative launched by the Government of India to bring back Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine.India is currently evacuating its nationals by moving them via land routes to the east European country's neighbours, namely Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, and then flying them out from there.

(With input from Manjeet Negi)

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