Pune: Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan today interacted with the parents of students who are stuck in war-hit Ukraine, in Pune. He said, Government is making all efforts to bring back all Indians safe, and these efforts are monitored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

While interacting with the parents the Union Minister said that “So far 6,000 of the 20,000 Indians stranded in Ukraine have been brought to India”. Later at a press conference in Pune today, he addressed the remaining Indians in Ukraine that it would be appropriate to leave Kyiv and they should go to the western part of Ukraine. “Since the number of stranded persons is big, Indian Air Force aircrafts are being used to bring them back to India, with the help of Ukraine’s neighboring countries Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia”, he added.

The embassies of Russia and Ukraine, as well as the Indian embassies in the two countries, are in touch to repatriate Indian nationals safely from Kharkiv and other war-torn cities in Ukraine. The Ministry of External Affairs clarified that since February 24, the countries have been repeatedly asked to allow Indians to leave the war-torn areas safely.

Union Minister Hardeep Puri has been sent to Hungary, Jyotiraditya Shinde to Romania, Kiren Rijiju to Slovakia and General VK Singh to Poland to coordinate the safe repatriation of Indians under Operation Ganga.

The Government of India had started ‘Operation Ganga’ for the evacuation of Indians trapped in Ukraine. 

Asked about Shiv Sena’s allegation that the name ‘Operation Ganga’ is being used keeping in mind the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Muraleedharan answered, “It is not a political issue. This is a national issue. It deals with the security of Indian citizens. There should be no objection to the name.” 

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