New Delhi: The Indian government on Friday announced that thousands of Indians stranded in war-torn Ukraine would be evacuated from Ukraine via Romania. After this, news agency ANI reported late on Friday that the first batch of more than 470 Indian students reached Romania through the Suseva border crossing. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that our team in Suseva will take the students from here to Bucharest.
The government will bring Indians from Ukraine via Romania
Senior government officials said that Air India will operate two flights to Romania’s capital Bucharest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine. He said Indian nationals arriving at the Ukraine-Romania border by road would be taken by Indian government officials to Bucharest so that they could be brought back by two Air India flights. Ukraine closed its airspace on Thursday morning. Therefore, India has to bring back its citizens via Romania.
Air India flights to Bucharest on Friday night
Officials said that one Air India flight will leave from Delhi at around 9 pm on Friday, while the other will leave from Mumbai at around 10.25 pm on Friday. These two Air India flights will leave for India from Bucharest on Saturday. Earlier, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine said on Friday that it is working on establishing an evacuation route through Romania and Hungary to bring its citizens to the country safely. Teams of Indian officials are receiving students from Ukraine at the Chop-Zahony Hungarian border near Vuzhorod, the Porbane-Siret Romanian border near Chernivtsi.
Indian citizens were advised to keep these things with them
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine said that citizens, especially students, who live close to these border posts are advised to keep in touch with the teams of the Ministry of External Affairs and leave Ukraine in an organized manner. Once the above routes are operational, Indian nationals traveling on their own will be advised to proceed at the border posts. The Indian embassy has advised citizens to carry passports, cash (in US dollars), other essential items, and COVID-19 vaccination certificates to border posts with them.
It was advised to keep the tricolor on vehicles and buses
Indian citizens have been asked to “print out the Indian flag and affix it prominently on vehicles and buses during the journey.” Officials said around 20,000 Indians, mainly students, are currently stranded in Ukraine. The distance between Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and the Romanian border post, is about 600 kilometers and it takes 8 and a half to 11 hours to travel by road. Bucharest is located at a distance of about 500 kilometers from the Romanian checkpoint and it takes 7 to 9 hours to reach here by road. The distance between Kyiv and the Hungarian border post is about 820 kilometers and it takes 12-13 hours to cover it by road.
