The day after the External Ministry (MEA) sent a team to the Western border of Ukraine, the center on Friday focused its efforts on evacuation of Indian citizens through flights from Romania and Hungary.
With Ukraine closing the airspace, the government made arrangements to send Air India flights on Saturdays, from Delhi and Mumbai, to Bucharest in Romania and Budapest in Hungary. Source said the operation of this flight was subject to approval from the authorities in Romania and Hungary.
India tried to evacuate its citizens through the border of Ukrainian land with the Republic of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania, from where they would fly home. “The first batch of Evakare from Ukraine reached Romania through the Suceava border intersection. Our team at Suceava will now facilitate a trip to Bucharest for the next trip to India,” said spokesman MEA Arindam Bagchi Tweet on Friday night.
According to government officials, flights from Delhi to Bucharest were scheduled to leave at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, while the flight returned to leave Bucharest at 11:30 a.m. (local time). Flights from Delhi to Budapest are scheduled to go at 9 am Ist is on Saturday, while the flight will return to leave Budapest at 1:15 a.m. (local time). The official said the flight would be operated under the mission of Vande Bharat, at 256-seat Boeing 787.
In a statement, Air India said: “Air India will operate from B787 flights from Delhi & Mumbai to Bucharest (Romania) and Budapest (Hungary) on February 26 as special government charter flights to fly back in stranded Indians.”
MEA said on Thursday that his team had been sent to the Zahony border post in Hungary, the Border of Krakowiec’s land in Poland, Vysne Nemecke in the Slovak Republic, and the Suceava land border in Romania.
The Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar has spoken with his colleagues in Ukraine, Russia and all neighboring countries.
The ministry has also established camp offices in the city of Lviv and Chernivtsi in West Ukraine to facilitate the transit of Indians to Hungary, Romania and Poland, said source. According to sources, the camp office in Lviv will be able to coordinate evacuation to Poland and Hungary, while those in Chernivtsi will facilitate the way out to Romania.
The source said additional Russian-language officials were being sent to this camp office to coordinate Indian transit. “Officials have helped Indian citizens that reach these cities, and will facilitate their departure from Ukraine through side by side,” a source said.
“The Indian government organizes evacuation flights for Indians in Ukraine. Costs will be fully borne by the government for this evacuation,” said a source.
In an advisor, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine said the teams were being stressed at Chop-Zahony Chartpost on the Hungarian border and also in Porubne-Stret on the Romanian border in Uzhhorod in Uzhhorod. “In this difficult situation, the Indian Embassy asked Indians to continue to remain strong, safe, and alert. The embassy also worked all the time to support the Indian community in Ukraine,” he said. “The Indian government and embassy work to build evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary,” he said.
Air India was previously scheduled to fly to Kyiv on Saturday, but the flight was canceled after closing the airspace. Evacuation flights to Kyiv on Thursday were reappointed in the air after Ukraine announced the closure of the airspace.
Harsh’s foreign secretary Vardhan Shringla said on Thursday that there were around 20,000 Indians in Ukraine, where around 4,000 had returned to India in recent days.