Relief, fear and smiles at Delhi airport as parents welcome children from Ukraine

New Delhi/Jaipur/Chandigarh: Emotions ran high at the Delhi airport here throughout Sunday as on the one hand, parents anxious to reunite with their children who were caught in the Russian invasion of Ukraine heaved a sigh of relief but on the other, scores of other parents stood worried — waiting for news of thousands still stuck in bunkers in eastern cities of the war-torn country.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport became a witness to a plethora of emotions as parents gave their children a grand welcome with flowers, cards and warm hugs upon their arrival here from the Hungarian capital Budapest.

Air India's third evacuation flight, AI1940, which was scheduled to land here at around 7 am, reached a couple of hours late at 9.20 am. At around 2.45 am, Air India's second evacuation flight from Romanian capital Bucharest, brought back 250 Indian nationals to Delhi. The first evacuation flight, AI1944, had brought 229 people from Bucharest to Mumbai on Saturday evening.

As the returnees belong to different states, several states have established help desks and provided transport services from the Delhi airport to their homes.

A majority of the 240 students that landed in the third evacuation flight were studying in the western city of Uzhhorod, which is one of the cities least affected due to the Russian military operation.

Several of the students whom PTI spoke to said that the situation in the western cities of Ukraine was much better than the rest of the country. Elated to be back in the country, medical student Abhijeet Kumar, thanked the Indian government for ensuring their return.

"There is no violence in the west but we faced a lot

of problems. People started panicking. Prices of groceries shot up and there was panic-buying," he said.

Sameer Khan, a student who landed in Delhi, said that while he was in a relatively safer city, he was extremely worried for thousands of others who were still stuck in cities like Kharkiv and Kyiv, where fighting has broken out on the streets and nightly bombings coupled with continuous air raid sirens are frightening students locked up in bomb shelters.

Meena Sharma from Sonipat, whose daughter is a fourth-year student in Kharkiv, told the media that her daughter and many of her friends had neither eaten nor slept well for three days.

They are not getting any help there. We are having sleepless nights here. Our government should take them to a safer place and bring them back to India safely, she said. with pti inputs