Russia-Ukraine war: Air India’s fifth rescue flight brings 249 Indians from Bucharest

Air India brought 249 Indian nationals on its fifth evacuation flight on Monday. The flight came from the Romanian capital of Bucharest, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. India began its rescue missions from Romania and Hungary – both neighbouring countries of Ukraine – from Saturday. Another evacuation flight is expected to land in Delhi today. 

Tata Group-owned Air India has evacuated 1,156 Indian nationals in five evacuation flights till now. 

Apart from Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet will also operate flights to bring back stranded Indians. IndiGo flights will be operated on Monday and Tuesday from Delhi. They will first fly to Istanbul and then to Budapest. They will return via Istanbul to Delhi. 

SpiceJet will operate a special evacuation flight to Budapest. The aircraft will fly to Budapest from Delhi on February 28, and the return flight will operate via Kutaisi in Georgia and reach Delhi on March 2.

India has so far evacuated 2,000 of its citizens from Ukraine after the conflict began, said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Sunday. He said efforts are being made to facilitate the exit of the remaining Indians. 

Shringla held separate meetings with the ambassadors of Ukraine and Russia and shared the location of Indian citizens in Ukraine to ensure their safety. 

He added that the border crossings to Hungary and Romania are functioning but the exit to Poland is crowded with lakhs of Ukrainians and foreign nationals trying to leave through it.

"We are aware of a number of Indian citizens, particularly students, who continue to be in cities in the east and south-east of Ukraine. Unfortunately, these areas are live conflict areas and it is generally deemed unsafe for people to move around freely. We will try to find suitable evacuation modalities for them," he said.

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