Jaishankar calls up Hungarian, Moldavan counterparts for extending evacuation support

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Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar

New Delhi, (Asian independent) External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar on Sunday spoke to his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in Hungary and expressed gratitude for providing support so far in evacuating Indians from the Hungarian-Ukrainian border.

“Called up Hungarian FM Peter Szijjarto.Thankful for the evacuation support provided so far. Requested further cooperation on the Hungary-Ukraine border,” he said, in a tweet.

He also dialled his Moldovan counterpart Nicu Popescu to seek support for facilitating entry of Indian nationals on Ukraine-Moldova border.

“Appreciate his ready response & strong support. MEA representatives will accordingly reach there tomorrow,” he said, in another tweet.

Poland, Romania and Hungary are allowing Indian students who escape from Ukraine to enter without any visa.

So far, around 1,000 students have been evacuated from Ukraine while more will be airlifted by Monday via neighbouring countries.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Sunday said that till now four flights have come back with Indian students evacuated via Romania and Hungary and two flight sare likely to depart Sunday night or by Monday morning to evacuate more students.

“The Government of India has launched ‘multi-pronged’ Operation Ganga to evacuate our citizens stranded in Ukraine. This evacuation process will be at government cost,” Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Sunday.

A special flight carrying Indian students stranded in Ukraine arrived at Delhi airport on Sunday evening from Romanian capital Bucharest.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who was at the airport to receive the returning Indian students, said that every student stuck in Ukraine is being brought back.

“PM (Narendra) Modi is himself monitoring the situation and we have sent teams to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine. The MEA has also set up a control room regarding the ongoing situation,” he added.