External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that over 22,500 Indians evacuated under Operation Ganga from the war-torn Ukraine under challenging circumstances. Making a statement on the situation in Ukraine in both Houses of Parliament, Dr Jaishankar said that Operation Ganga is a testimony of India’s commitment to ensure that Indians in distress situations abroad can count on their government. He explained that the evacuation exercise was undertaken when airstrikes and shelling were underway.
More than half of the students were in Universities in Eastern Ukraine that borders Russia. About 18,000 Indian citizens were caught in the midst of conflict. Hence a strategy was made to evacuate Indian nationals from western neighboring countries of Ukraine as the Ukrainian airspace was closed on February 24th.
When a credible ceasefire was needed to evacuate the students, the Prime Minister himself spoke to the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia. Due to which the evacuation at Sumy was possible.
The External Affairs Minister stated that our Embassy personnel had gone to extraordinary lengths in difficult circumstances to ensure that Operation Ganga was successful.
There were 90 flights, both civilian and Indian Air Force operated during the operation. In line with India’s principle of Vasudaiva Kutumbakam, foreign nationals were also evacuated from the conflict zones and brought to India.
This included citizens from Nepal and Bangladesh. Many Ukrainian nationals that are family members of Indian nationals were also evacuated. S Jaishankar informed that the mortal remains of Indian student Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagaudar, killed in Ukraine will be brought back to India and our Embassy is pursuing the matter.
