Russia-Ukraine crisis: Flight carrying 185 Indian evacuees lands in Mumbai

An Air India Express flight, carrying 185 Indians from Bucharest, who had moved over to the Romanian capital from Ukraine, landed in Mumbai in the early hours of Friday. It was the fourth evacuation flight to have landed in the city.

According to officials, another flight from Budapest is expected to land later on Friday with Indians who were stranded in Ukraine after the war broke out with Russia.

India has been evacuating its citizens, numbering over 18,000, who have been caught in the conflict. Most of them are students pursuing their medical courses.

The Indian government has told them to reach neighbouring countries including Romania, Hungary and Poland from where they are being flown to Delhi and Mumbai.

With the situation in Ukraine getting grimmer by the day, there is confusion about the number of Indians stranded there. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that over 3,000 Indians were being kept at the Kharkiv station in eastern Ukraine by the military.

“Thousands of young people, students who were studying in Ukraine’s colleges were kept for more than one day,” said Putin. “They include more than 3,000 Indian citizens at the train station in Kharkiv. And they continue keeping them there, including 576 people in the city of Sumy.”

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Agency reports said that Russian and Ukrainian officials had reached an agreement late Thursday to arrange safe corridors to evacuate civilians and for humanitarian supplies.