Leave Kyiv immediately: India’s latest advisory to its nationals in Ukraine

New Delhi, Mar 01: With the situation worsening in Kyiv, India has asked its nationals to immediately leave the Ukrainian capital.

There has been heavy fighting since morning today with the Russian Military approaching Kyiv with all its might. Satellite images show that Russian artillery and tanks lined up for 40 kilometres heading for Kyiv.

Following the Russian military offensive against Ukraine, India has brought back over 1,000 stranded citizens from that country since Saturday when the first evacuation flight from Bucharest with 219 people on board landed in Mumbai under Operation Ganga.

As many as 688 Indian nationals returned here on Sunday from strife-torn Ukraine on board three Air India evacuation flights from Romanian capital Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that approximately 13,000 Indians are stranded in Ukraine as of now, and the government is making efforts to bring them back as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of meetings including in which it was decided four union ministers would visit countries bordering Ukraine to oversee the evacuation.

Union Ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen. V K Singh will travel to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation mission and help students. These Ministers have gone as Special Envoys of India.