Jaishankar hails Operation Ganga as students, evacuated from Ukraine’s Sumy, arrive in India

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday hailed Operation Ganga, launched by India to evacuate its citizens from war-hit Ukraine, as Indian students, who were stranded in the besieged north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, arrived in India on special flights.

“Students from Sumy are returning today to India. Their evacuation was particularly challenging. Operation Ganga, undertaken at the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has delivered due to both leadership and commitment,” Jaishankar said in a statement on Twitter.

The minister also thanked everyone who, he said, helped the mission meet its objectives. “Our particular gratitude to the authorities in Ukraine and Russia as well as the Red Cross for the evacuation assistance,” the note read.

He also expressed gratitude to Ukraine’s neighbouring countries–Romania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Moldova–for their ‘exceptional’ support to India in evacuating its citizens from the eastern European nation.

Jaishankar further appreciated Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri and General VK Singh, all of whom were sent to coordinate the evacuation efforts, and whose presence, he noted, ‘made a big difference.’

The note concluded with the minister lauding the Indian embassy in Ukraine and his colleagues in the external affairs ministry for their ‘dedicated efforts in a difficult conflict situation.’

In all, India sent three flights to Poland for its students–600 in all–who were evacuated from Sumy on Tuesday. While two were Air India flights, the third was an Indian Air Force (IAF) flight. All three flights returned on Friday; the first two arrived in Delhi, while the third landed at the IAF’s Hindon air base in Ghaziabad in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.