242 Indians reached Delhi from crisis-hit Ukraine

An Air India special flight, AI1946,with 242 passengers onboard, from Kyiv in Ukraine landed in Delhi around 11.30 pm on Tuesday. Those on board were mostly students who were returning after the Indian embassy in Ukraine issued advisories asking them to leave Ukraine temporarily. The flight AI 1946 took off from Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv at around 6pm (IST). Many of these Indians are students pursuing medical education in Ukraine. Recounting the ground situation, the students said it is peaceful but there is a lot of panic. Students have followed the advisory of the Embassy which asked the students to leave the country at the earliest. Air India is operating two special flights between Kyiv and Delhi on February 24 and 26.

In an advisory issued on February 20, the Indian embassy in Kyiv had asked all Indian nationals “whose stay is not deemed essential and all Indian students” to leave Ukraine temporarily, in view of “the continued high levels of tensions and uncertainties with respect to the situation in Ukraine”. In another advisory issued on Tuesday, the embassy again asked Indian students to leave Ukraine temporarily, rather than wait for an official confirmation from universities about online classes.

The civil aviation ministry removed the existing cap on the number of flights that can fly between India and Ukraine and asked carriers to look at the possibility of operating flights from Ukraine. A total of four flights are scheduled to depart between February 25 and March 6. Scheduled flights of Air Arabia, Fly Dubai, Qatar Airways, etc are continuing to operate their routine flights from Ukraine to India.