new Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the first flight from Romania carrying Indians evacuated from war-torn Ukraine left for Mumbai sometime back. It was moved to Bucharest for an alternate route of departure after Ukrainian airspace was closed due to rising tensions with Russia.
The flight will arrive at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 9 PM IST and evacuation will be done by Union Minister Piyush Goyal.
Jaishankar shared pictures of those evacuated from the plane on Twitter and said that India is making progress in repatriation efforts.
Jaishankar tweeted, “With regard to evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine, we are making progress. Our teams are working on the ground round the clock. I am personally monitoring. The first flight to Mumbai with 219 Indian nationals took off from Romania.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the first batch of Indian nationals deported from Ukraine had reached Romania from across the Suseva border.
Meanwhile, a second evacuation flight (AI1942) is expected to return to Delhi early Sunday, along with another 250 Indian nationals, officials noted.
Air India is set to operate more flights to Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine by alternate routes.
Prior to the closure of Ukrainian airspace, Air India operated a flight to the Ukrainian capital Kiev on 22 February, bringing back 240 people.
When Russia invaded its border, more than 20,000 Indians, mainly students, were trapped in Ukraine.