English daily published in Bengaluru & Doha
Ukraine: Indians to be flown out via Romania, Hungary
New Delhi: Air India will operate three flights to Romanian capital Bucharest and one flight to Hungarian capital Budapest by Saturday to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine due to a Russian military offensive against it, senior government officials said.
Indian nationals who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border and Ukraine-Hungary border by road will be taken to Bucharest and Budapest, respectively, by Indian government officials so that they can be evacuated in the Air India flights, they added.
The Ukrainian airspace was closed for civil aircraft by the country’s authorities Thursday morning and therefore, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest.
Air India said on Twitter on Friday night that it will be operating B787 aircraft from Delhi and Mumbai to Bucharest and Budapest on February 26 (Saturday) as special government charter flights to fly back stranded Indian citizens.
Earlier in the day, officials had said that Air India would operate two flights on Friday, but it was not immediately clear why they did not take off. The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Friday said it is working to establish evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary.
“At present, teams are getting in place at the following checkpoints: Chop-Zahony Hungarian border near Uzhhorod, PorubneSiret Romanian border near Chernivtsi,” it said.
Indian nationals, especially students, living closest to these border checkpoints are advised to depart in an organised manner in coordination with teams from the Ministry of External Affairs to actualise this option, the embassy said. Once the above-mentioned routes are operational, the Indian nationals travelling on their own would be advised to proceed to the border checkpoints, it noted.
The embassy advised Indian travellers to carry their passports, cash (preferably in US dollars), other essential items and COVID-19 vaccination certificates to the border checkpoints. “Print out the Indian flag and paste prominently on vehicles and buses while travelling,” it said. Around 20,000 Indians, mainly students, are currently stranded in Ukraine, the officials said. – PTI
WhatsApp message from Indian students calling for protests in front of Russian embassy in New Delhi has been making the rounds. The forward on the messaging app said that protests may force the Indian and Russian governments to arrange for evacuations of Indians stuck in the eastern European nation. The message reads: “We need our friends and relatives in Delhi to protest in front of the Russian Embassy and get media attention. If you know any journalists, please contact them and ask for help. We hope this will put enough pressure on the Indian and Russian Governments to prioritise our safety and come up with a real evacuation plan.” It continues: “18,000 of us have been waiting patiently since the bombings started on Thursday morning. There have been missiles, air raids, civilian casualties, tanks on the road, all of us sleeping in -2 degrees celsius in unheated basements and metro stations. Indian government says they have a rescue plan, but that plan will only work for the few of us living near the western borders. All the rest of us living in places like Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dneper, Odessa, Sumy, Zaprozhye and more have no hope of crossing the thousands of kilometres to the western border. We have no cars, no trains, no buses - no way to get out. The situation is getting worse with every hour as supplies run out.
