New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: India on Sunday evacuated 688 more nationals from war-hit Ukraine on three Air India flights and said it was in touch with the other countries in that region to ensure the return of all its stranded citizens as concerns mounted over their safety.
Approximately 13,000 Indians are in Ukraine as of now, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who received the evacuees at the Delhi airport this morning, said.
Around a thousand Indians have already been flown out of Romania and Hungary and another 1,000 have been evacuated from Ukraine through the land routes, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told a media briefing.
He said that locations of the Indian citizens are being shared with Ukraine and Russia for ensuring their protection and Indians who are near the borders with Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are being guided towards the respective border points in phases. The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has also been urged to escort the Indians safely out of the country.
Scenes of tearful reunion were seen at the Delhi airport after two Air India flights from Romanian capital Bucharest and one from Hungarian capital Budapest arrived with 688 Indian nationals on Sunday.
IndiGo also said it will operate two flights to Budapest via Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday from Delhi to bring back Indians.
The first evacuation flight from Bucharest with 219 people on board had landed in Mumbai a day earlier under Operation Ganga and many of the returnees reached their home states.
The Ministry of External Affairs, meanwhile, said a dedicated Twitter handle @opganga has been set up to assist in the evacuation of Indians from Ukraine.
Shringla said he held separate meetings with the ambassadors of Ukraine and Russia and shared with them the locations of the Indian citizens in Ukraine for ensuring their protection.
The foreign secretary said though the border crossings to Hungary and Romania are functioning, the exit point to Poland has been clogged with lakhs of Ukrainians and foreign nationals trying to leave the strife-torn country through it.
India is using the land routes to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack.
Shringla said that Indians who are near the borders with Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are being guided towards the respective border points in phases.
He said approximately 2,000 Indian citizens were in Kyiv and many of them have begun to move to the western part of the country.
Shringla said the Indian embassy in Ukraine suggested that those who are located in the eastern areas including Kyiv should start moving westwards to avoid the areas of increasing conflict and that they should come near the border points.
"We have also contacted the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. Our Permanent Representative in Geneva has spoken to the President of the ICRC," he said.
"The ICRC is commencing its operation in Ukraine. We have told them to please make sure that as and when they start their operation, they should be cognisant of the needs of our citizens and wherever possible escort them out," he added.
Early Sunday morning, Scindia said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in touch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and talks are being held so that everyone is brought home safely.
The minister said talks are also on with the Russian government, and the Indian government will breathe easy only after every stranded Indian is evacuated from Ukraine.
"So, please pass on this message to all your friends and all your colleagues that we are with them and we will guarantee their safe passage back," Scindia said.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine said on Sunday that whenever curfew is lifted and people are moving around in a neighbourhood, Indian nationals are advised to use nearby railway stations to proceed towards western parts of the country.
The western parts of the country are relatively conflict-free as of now.
The transportation mode of Railways is operational and safer. Ukrainian Railways is also operating special trains for evacuation of people free of charge on a first-come-first-serve basis at the railway station, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine noted.
It said Indians should travel in groups and carry only essentials in a rucksack or a bag.
As Air India ferries hundreds of Indians stranded in Ukraine, the cost of operating a two-way evacuation flight will be more than Rs 1.10 crore and the amount will go up depending on the duration of the flights.
An airline source said that the cost of operating a chartered flight with the Dreamliner is around Rs 7 to 8 lakh per hour and the total amount will depend "on where we are going and how far we are going".
The total cost will include expenses related to crew, fuel, navigation, landing and parking charges.
Also, considering that these flights are for relatively long duration, there will be two sets of crew onboard. The crew that operates the first leg of the flight will take rest in the return leg and will be replaced by another set of crew, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The figure is calculated under the assumption that overall duration of the to and fro flight is around 14 hours. The expenses will shoot up in case the duration is longer.
The government is not charging people for evacuation flights. Some state governments have also announced that they will bear the expenses of people from their respective states who are returning from Ukraine.
The Dreamliner has more than 250 seats.
According to pilots who fly Dreamliners, the aircraft on average consumes 5 tonnes of fuel per hour.
The source said that once the operations are complete, the exact cost will be worked out and then the airline will send the bill to the government for reimbursement.
Air India did not offer comments on queries about the cost involved in operating the evacuation flights.
The Apna Dal (K) has allied with the Samajwadi Party.
Union minister Patel, heading a rival faction of the party named after her father Sonelal Patel, however, has handed over the seat to the BJP to challenge her mother Krishna Patel.
Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra Mona is fighting from Rampur Khas of Pratapgarh.