Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Sixth evacuation flight with 240 Indian nationals lands in Delhi

As the sixth evacuation flight from Hungary's capital Budapest carrying 240 Indian nationals who were stranded in Ukraine landed at the Delhi airport on Monday, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi welcomed them and said the Indian government is working round the clock to bring back every Indian in this hour of crisis.

The students who arrived today at the airport thanked the government for evacuating them safely and urged them to bring back rest of the Indians from Ukraine.

Addressing the nationals in the flight upon their arrival, Naqvi said, "The kind of problems that you faced, all of us feel and understand it. So the government of India is working round the clock to bring back the Indians. We welcome you. Your family is waiting for you. I have come to you as you are our family."

The Minister was also seen interacting with the students personally.

Speaking to ANI, a student who hails from Haryana, Sonam said, "First of all, I would thank the government for extracting us so early from the situation we were in. I want to request the students who are stuck there to be evacuated at the soonest."

Another student Chestha Shukla toldthat they had crossed the Hungary border from where they were they were taken to the airport.

"We crossed the Hungary border and went to the Budapest airport from where we were brought," she said.

"From the hostel of our University, we came to the Hungary border where we changed the bus for the airport. The Air India flight was waiting for us. I want to thank PM Modi and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for evacuating us safely from such a situation," said another Deepshikha Das student who hails from Assam.

Smriti from Odisha said that she had not imagined returning home amid the kind of situation prevailing in Ukraine, however, she thanked the Indian Embassy and the government for bringing them back home safely.

"The kind of situation that is prevailing in Ukraine, I did not imagine that I would be able to come back home. The Indian Embassy helped us a lot, provided us with food. Our flights were not booked initially because of which our families were worried. But thanks to the Indian government for bringing us safely here," she said.

The Central government has launched "Operation Ganga" to bring back the stranded Indians from Ukraine amid the ongoing crisis.

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia will be overseeing evacuation operations of stranded Indians in Romania and Moldova, while Minister of Law Kiren Rijiju will be visiting Slovakia.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri will be overlooking operations in Hungary, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport Gen (Retd) VK Singh will manage evacuations in Poland.

This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi deputed four Union Ministers to neighboring countries of Ukraine to coordinate evacuations of stranded Indians amid ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine.

A second high-level meeting in the last 24 hours over the prevailing situation in Ukraine, especially with the evacuation of Indian citizens, was chaired by PM Modi today.

Special flights are being operated by Air India under "Operation Ganga".

( With inputs from ANI )

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