New Delhi: Air India's first evacuation flight departed from Romanian capital Bucharest on Saturday afternoon for Mumbai with 219 Indian nationals who were stranded in Ukraine due to the ongoing Russian military offensive, officials said.
There are 19 Kerala students among the passengers on the Air India flight.
The airline's second evacuation flight departed from Delhi at 11:40am and is expected to land in Bucharest at around 6:30pm (Indian Standard Time), they noted.
Indian nationals, who reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road, have been taken to Bucharest by the Indian government officials so that they can be evacuated in the Air India flights, they said.
The first evacuation flight AI1944 departed from Bucharest at 1:55pm (Indian Standard Time) and is expected to land at the Mumbai airport at around 9pm, they said.
The second evacuation flight AI1942 is expected to return to the Delhi airport on early Sunday morning with another 250 Indian nationals, they mentioned.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Twitter that AI1944 with "219 Indian nationals has taken off from Romania".
"Regarding evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine, we are making progress. Our teams are working on the ground round the clock. I am personally monitoring," he added.
Air India will operate more flights on Saturday to Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since February 24 morning and therefore, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest.
Around 20,000 Indians, mainly students, are currently stranded in Ukraine, the officials said.
Prior to the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, Air India had operated a flight to Ukraine's capital Kyiv on February 22 that brought 240 people back to India.
It had planned to operate two more flights on February 24 and February 26 but could not as the Russian offensive began on February 24 and the Ukrainian airspace was consequently shut down.
Air India said on Twitter on Friday night that it will be operating flights on B787 aircraft from Delhi and Mumbai to Bucharest and Budapest on Saturday as special government charter flights to fly back stranded Indian citizens.
The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Friday said it is working to establish evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary.
At present, teams are getting in place at the following check points: Chop-Zahony Hungarian border near Uzhhorod, Porubne-Siret Romanian border near Chernivtsi, it said.
Indian nationals, especially students, living closest to these border checkpoints are advised to depart in an organised manner in coordination with teams from the Ministry of External Affairs to actualise this option, the embassy said.
Once the above-mentioned routes are operational, the Indian nationals travelling on their own would be advised to proceed to the border checkpoints, it noted.
The embassy advised Indian travellers to carry their passports, cash (preferably in US dollars), other essential items and COVID-19 vaccination certificates to the border checkpoints.
Print out Indian flag and paste prominently on vehicles and buses while travelling, it said.
The distance between Kyiv and the Romanian border checkpoint is approximately 600 kilometres and it takes anywhere between eight-and-a-half hours to 11 hours to cover it by road.
Bucharest is located approximately 500 kilometres from the Romanian border checkpoint and it takes anywhere between seven to nine hours by road.
The distance between Kyiv and the Hungarian border checkpoint is around 820 kilometres and it takes 12-13 hours by road
Helpline numbers
The mission has set up helpline numbers for assisting Indians in Ukraine. These control rooms are based in Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary and managed by the Indian officials posted in those countries.
The Embassy has also shared the numbers of a few officials stationed in Poland. Pankaj Garg (+48660460815) is stationed at the Shehyni-Medyka border check-post.
The Embassy office at the Krakowiec crossing is headed by Shubham Kumar (+48881551271).
The Embassy stated that the liaison office in Lviv in Ukraine is operational and managed by Mira Berezovska (+380679335064) and Vivek Kumar (+48881551273).
The Ministry of External Affairs has set up camp offices in Lviv and Chernivtsi towns in western Ukraine.
It is learnt that the camp office in Lviv would be able to coordinate the evacuation of Indians to Poland and Hungary while the one at Chernivtsi would facilitate exit to Romania.
The people cited above said additional Russian-speaking officials are being sent to these camp offices to coordinate the transit of the Indians from Ukraine.
Earlier, the Embassy had issued emergency numbers based out of Ukraine. Partha Satpathy, the Ambassador of India to Ukraine, had stated that he is inundated with calls, so is the Embassy and they are doing their best to help.
The helpline numbers issued by the Embassy are +38 0997300483, +38 0997300428, +38 0933980327, +38 0635917881 and +38 0935046170.
'Indians in Ukraine should stay calm'
Indian nationals stuck in Ukraine should stay calm and remain wherever they are residing, Russian diplomatic sources said on Friday.
The sources said President Vladimir Putin conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night that the Russian military operation in Ukraine does not represent any threat to the civilian population.
"The Indian nationals should stay calm and not panic. They should stay wherever they are residing," said a Russian diplomatic source.
In his telephonic conversation with Putin, the prime minister "sensitised" him about concerns over the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine and conveyed that India attaches the highest priority to their safe exit and return home, according to an official statement.
A Russian readout said the President of Russia said that "necessary instructions would be given".
The sources said Russia will definitely extend assistance to India for the evacuation of its citizens from Ukraine if it receives any specific request.
India was looking at evacuating its nationals through Ukraine's land borders with Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania as the Ukrainian government closed the country's airspace following the Russian military offensive.
(With PTI, IANS and Reuters inputs)
