Plane Bringing Indians From Ukraine To Land In Mumbai, Minister To Receive
An Air India flight from Romania, bringing Indians evacuated from Ukraine due to the Russian invasion, will land in Mumbai at 4 pm. Union Minister Piyush Goyal will receive the evacuees at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
Indian nationals who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road are being taken to Bucharest by Indian government officials so that they can be evacuated in the Air India flight.
The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since the morning of February 24 and therefore, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest.
Before the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, Air India had flown one plane to Ukraine capital Kyiv on February 22 that brought 240 people back to India.
New Delhi had plans to operate two more flights on February 24 and February 26 but the Ukrainian airspace was shut down following the Russian offensive.
Air India said on Twitter on Friday night that it will be operating flights on B787 aircraft from Delhi and Mumbai to Bucharest and Budapest on Saturday as special government charter flights to fly back stranded Indian citizens.
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 check points: Chop-Zahony Hungarian border near Uzhhorod, Porubne-Siret 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.
In a fresh advisory today, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine has asked the Indian citizens not to move to border posts without coordinating with its officials.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a dedicated 24×7 control room to provide assistance and information to Indians in Ukraine.