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PM Modi chairs meet with embassy officials, hails evacuation mission in Ukraine
Russia-Ukraine war: External affairs minister S Jaishankar in his statement to the Rajya Sabha said more than 22,500 Indians had been brought back home from Ukraine
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with Indian embassy officials involved in the evacuation mission to rescue Indian nationals under Operation Ganga. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with stakeholders involved in Operation Ganga earlier today. Operation Ganga successfully evacuated about 23,000 Indian citizens, as well as 147 foreign nationals belonging to 18 countries, from Ukraine," the government said in a statement.
“We also evacuated nationals of 18 other countries from Ukraine. We have sent over 90 tonnes of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and its neighbouring countries,” the prime minister said.
“During the interaction, representatives of the Indian Community and private sector in Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary narrated their experiences of being part of Operation Ganga, the challenges they faced, and expressed their sense of satisfaction and honour at having contributed to such a complex humanitarian operation,” the government added.
The prime minister appreciated all the stakeholders involved in the evacuation mission , from the government officials to the volunteer groups. He also praised the patriotic fervour, the sense of community service and the team spirit displayed by all the stakeholders involved in Operation Ganga.
During the meeting, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, law minister Kiren Rijiju, petroleum ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and MoS civil aviation General (Retd) VK Singh were also present. These four ministers were sent to the countries sharing the borders with Ukraine and had overseen evacuation efforts.
Earlier in the day, external affairs minister S Jaishankar told Rajya Sabha that more than 22,500 Indians had been brought back to India from the war-hit Ukraine.
“The evacuation from Sumy in Ukraine was extremely complex and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal intervention with the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia materialised the ceasefire and consequently the evacuation of Indian students from the city,” he said. Under 'Operation Ganga', India has also been able to rescue several citizens of the neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal.
Nearly 600 Indian nationals had been evacuated from Sumy by the Indian embassy and Red Cross officials.
