Pet Dog Of Indian Student Evacuated From Ukraine Boards IAF Flight, Gets Welcomed By Minister
An Indian Air Force flight IAF C-17 took off from Poland's Rzeszow on Wednesday for Delhi with 208 Indian nationals stranded in the war in Ukraine.
Union Minister VK Singh on Tuesday landed in Poland to coordinate and oversee the evacuation process of Indian nationals from Ukraine. Singh is one of the four 'special envoys' deployed by the Government of India to oversee the evacuation process of Indian nationals in Ukraine's neighbouring countries.
In a video posted on Twitter Singh was seen welcoming the pet dog of an Indian student as she was being evacuated along with others.
The dog 'Neela' belonged to Yukta, a student from Pune.
"Some of the evacuees brought their four legged best friends as well," Singh said in a Tweet.
He also addressed the students onboard the evacuation flight.
"Soon, you all will be with family, friends, and more importantly, in the country you call your own," Singh said on Twitter.
Four C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the Indian Air Force, including the one from Poland, with approximately 800 evacuees from Ukraine are slated to land at the Hindon airbase on Thursday, sources told news agency PTI.
"We now estimate that nearly 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine's borders since our advisories were issued. This of course includes some Indians who had not registered with the embassy earlier," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a briefing.
20,000 students stranded in Ukraine
Earlier, the MEA had said that 20,000 Indians were in Ukraine when India had issued the first advisory in mid-February when the tension between Russia and Ukraine started building up.
A total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of remaining students stranded in Ukraine.
The students who left Ukraine also included some Indians who had not registered with the Embassy of India in Kyiv previously.
On Wednesday, Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sandeep Singh said that the Indian Air Force can send up to four aircraft to help the Centre's efforts to evacuate Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine under 'Operation Ganga'.
He also informed that the four aircraft can bring back 200 people on each trip.
Addressing a press conference, Singh assured that the Air Force would safely bring back stranded Indians in Ukraine, and said, "IAF can send four aircraft in a day to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine, and 200 people will be brought back in one round. I am sure we will bring all our people back safely."
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