Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructed the Indian Air Force (IAF) to engage in evacuating the Indiꦐans stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive against it.
The IAF is likely to deploy several C-17 a𒉰ircraft as part of Operatio෴n Ganga from Tuesday, they said.
Till now, only private Indian carriers have been evacuating Indians from Romania and Hungary, countrieꦗs ജwith land borders with Ukraine on the western side, as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24.
In a statement on Tuesday, the IAF said it is geared up for any requirements of evacuation of Indian citizens from Ukraine. C-17 is IAF's largest transport aircraft and iꦡt has the capacity to carry a𒀰pproximately 300 passengers in it during a humanitarian relief mission.
In order to scale up the ongoing evacu♌ation efforts under Operational Ganga, Modi has called for the IAF to join the exercise, the sources said.
Leveraging the capacities of the IAF will ensure that 𒈔more people can be evacuated in a shorter time frame.The large C-17 aircraft will also help deliver humanitarian aid to war-hit Ukraine more e൩fficiently, they said.
Indians are travellꦫing by road to Ukraine's borders with Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland etc, from where they are being taken🌠 by the Indian government officials to the airports for the evacuation flights.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine on Twitter advised all Indian nationals including st꧃udents to leave Kyiv urgently on Friday itself, preferably by available trains or through any other means available.
( With PTI Inputs)
