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182 Indians flown back from Ukraine as Russia launches surprise 'military op'
Explosions were heard in eastern Ukraine this morning, after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a 'military operation'
A special flight from Ukraine landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport this morning, carrying 182 Indian nationals (mostly students) from the crisis-hit European country.
"A special flight of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) landed at Delhi Airport from Kyiv, at 7:45 am today, with 182 Indian citizens, including students," an airline official told news agency ANI.
This is the airline's first evacuation flight from Ukraine capital Kiev.
A second flight from Ukraine - an Air India plane - is expected to land in Delhi later today after it took off from the Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv.
The planes took off from Ukraine shortly before the government there issued a notice restricting the movement of civil/passenger flights within its airspace.
A third flight has been forced to return to Delhi after the notice was issued.
On Tuesday around 240 Indians were flown back from Ukraine on an Air India Boeing aircraft. The flight took off from Kyiv and landed at the Delhi airport late that night. That was the first of four scheduled evacuation flights, with the others pencilled in for February 24 and February 26.
Four more had been scheduled between February 25 and March 6.
It is unclear if these flights will be allowed to operate as scheduled.
Many of those being flown back from Ukraine are medical students. The government has already issued multiple warnings to Indian nationals in Ukraine, urging them to leave as soon as possible.
Explosions were heard in Mariupol in the eastern part of the country early today, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a 'military operation', triggering fears of a full-blown armed conflict in the area that could pull in the major western powers.
US President Joe Biden warned of "catastrophic loss of life" after Putin's announcement.
Tensions have escalated since Russia recognised two rebel regions in Ukraine -0 Donetsk and Luhansk - as independent territories, in a violation of a 2015 peace plan. This allowed the Kremlin to move troops into Ukraine.
A series of sanctions from the US, the UK and the European Union followed, as well as other countries. Russia has insisted it does not plan to invade Ukraine.
With input from ANI, AFP, Reuters
