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No evacuation plans for Indians in Ukraine for now, says MEA
The civil aviation ministry yesterday removed the restrictions on number of flights coming from Ukraine that were imposed due to Covid. As of now, there is no plan to fly special flights.
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The Ministry of External Affairs has issued a fresh statement saying that there are ‘no immediate evacuation plans’ for Indians in Ukraine, however flights between India and Ukraine are running without any restrictions on the number of flights or passengers.
While addressing the current ‘warlike’ situation between Ukraine and Russia, MEA has said, “ There are no immediate evacuation plans, so there aren’t any special flights. However, the restrictions on the number of flights & passengers (under the bubble agreement) has been removed. Indian carriers being encouraged to operate Chartered flights b/w India-Ukraine,” news agency ANI quoted MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
India and Ukraine have a travel bubble agreement under which both countries can operate a certain number of flights per week. These travel bubble agreements were formed during the pandemic when international travel was suspended.
But the ministry yesterday announced that it has removed the restrictions on the number of flights and passengers that were imposed due to Covid. This means airlines can operate any number of flights.
The Government of India also stated that while India is supportive of ‘immediate de-escalation’ of tensions and ‘resolution of issue via sustained diplomatic dialogue’, the only focus will remain on Indian citizens, Indian students, Indian nationals rather than anything larger than that.
“We'd like to see a diplomatic and peaceful resolution of the situation,” MEA added.
