Amid Russia and Ukraine crisis, the Embassy of India on Monday informed that the weekend curfew has been lifted in Kyiv. The Embassy advised students to move towards the railway station and added that the Ukraine Railways is putting special trains for evacuations. "Weekend curfew lifted in Kyiv. All students are advised to make their way to the railway station for an onward journey to the western parts. Ukraine Railways is putting special trains for evacuations". On Sunday, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that the government of India has launched a multi-prong evacuation plan titled 'Operation Ganga' to evacuate Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine. The Centre has also set up a dedicated Twitter handle "OpGanga Helpline" to assist in the evacuation of Indians from Ukraine under Operation Ganga.
The India Government is bearing the cost of evacuation given the emergency situation prevailing. The Twitter account lists helpline numbers in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic - all nations which share border with Ukraine. Kyiv has been under curfew with residents ordered to stay in shelters as Russian forces continued to shell the city's outskirts, although some were still trying to leave despite the curfew. On the fourth day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the capital was still in Ukrainian government hands, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rallying his people despite Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.Meanwhile, stepping up its efforts to evacuate Indian students, the Centre earlier today decided that Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and V K Singh will travel to its neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission and help students, reported news agency PTI citing government sources. These ministers will be going there as ''special envoys'' of India, they said.The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi