Operation Ganga draws to a close

New Delhi: India will wind up Operation Ganga -- the evacuation programme for Indian nationals from war-torn Ukraine -- and by Thursday evening, the last flight will take off, bringing home the government teams sent specially for the evacuation, sources said. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the Union government has evacuated around 18,000 Indian nationals, most of them students.

The last batch of students -- nearly 700 stranded in Sumy near the Russian border -- are on way to western Ukraine on train, from where they will take home-bound flights. Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted on Wednesday that the last special flight from Romania was taking off.

On Monday, Scindia, who was overseeing operations on the ground from Bucharest, tweeted: "Reassuring calls to parents, bright eyes & wide smiles - our last flight back to India is full of cheer, as 155 people onboard with us return to their homeland. All set to take off!"