Ukraine crisis: Nepal asks India to evacuate its nationals; gets positive response

The Nepali government has reached out to the Indian government for the evacuation of its stranded nationals. New Delhi has given a positive response to Nepal's request.

Operation Ganga: India is undertaking a mega evacuation mission to evacuate its nationals from Ukraine, via its neighbouring countries like Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. 

On February 28th, at a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Ukraine crisis, Indian envoy to UN TS Tirumurti said, "We stand ready to help those from our neighbours and developing countries who are also stranded in Ukraine and may seek assistance. We also support all UN humanitarian efforts. "

In the past, India has also evacuated nationals from neighbouring countries during times of crisis. Amid the COVID crisis, India evacuated nationals of the Maldives, Nepal, and Bangladesh from China. Last year, when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, India facilitated the evacuation of Nepali nationals from the country. In response to a question if India will help evacuate foreign nationals, Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "In principle, we are always ready to help other countries. If we get any specific requests, then our attitude towards them will be guided by this."

Since India issued its advisories, about 17,000 Indian nationals have left the Ukraine. During the last 24 hours, under Operation Ganga, six flights have landed in India, taking the total number of flights that have landed in India to 15 and the total number of Indians who have returned on these flights to 3,352.

The MEA control room has now attended 9,874 calls, nearly 10,000 calls, and responded to 7,657 emails.

The Indian Air Force has also pitched in for evacuation efforts. The fourth flight of the Indian Air Force C-17 from Bucharest landed at the Hindan Air Base at Ghaziabad earlier today with 180 Indian nationals who left Ukraine. Today, the IAF is operating three more flights to various locations in the neighbourhood of the war-torn country.