India has already set up round-the-clock 'control centres' in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia to assist in the evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine through border-crossing points with these countries.
In the last few days, India has been focusing primarily on ways to get the Indian students out of Sumy, a city that is around 60 km from the Russian border.
At the same time, it is learnt that Indian officials in Ukraine are facing growing complexities to evacuate the Indians to the neighbouring countries with Russian forces closing in on Ukrainian capital Kyiv and targeting several other key cities by land and air.
Modi, who is visiting Ukraine at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said that he will share with the Ukrainian leader perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday took a critical view of some of the key decisions made by the Jawaharlal Nehru government, and said one needs to get out of this "cult worship" that the period from 1946 onwards was "great years" and the country did "splendidly".
Separately Indian embassy in Kyiv also urged its nationals who are still in Ukraine to register themselves for the evacuation process under 'Operation Ganga'.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on Operation Ganga and the danger posed to Indian students still trapped in Ukraine.
As many as 31 evacuation flights will be operated to neighbouring countries of crisis-hit Ukraine and will bring back more than 6,300 Indians stranded in the eastern European nation, according to official sources.
The IAF is likely to deploy several C-17 aircraft as part of Operation Ganga from Tuesday, they said.
These flights belong to the fleet of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Spice Jet, Vistara, Go Air, and also planes from Air Force.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a meeting to review the Ukraine crisis amid the ongoing exercise to evacuate Indian nationals, mostly students, from the country facing attack from Russia.
Many big countries are facing difficulties in doing so for their citizens, Modi said.
'I want to thank the Prime Minister of India for supporting us'
With several Indians still stuck in strife-torn Ukraine, the government is pushing out videos on various platforms, including social media, on how to remain safe in a war zone.
The Indian embassy in Hungary suggested that the evacuation mission from the country is nearing completion as it is beginning the last leg of flights under the operation.
The central government has told the high court that under 'Operation Ganga', in addition to commercial aircrafts, Indian Air Force flights have also been pressed into operation to evacuate the Indians who have crossed into Romania, Poland, Hungary and other neighbouring countries of Ukraine.
The embassy was temporarily relocated to Warsaw on March 13.
The Indian mission in Ukraine on Tuesday said it has evacuated 52 out of the 75 Indian sailors stranded at the Port of Mykolaiv in the war-hit nation.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, meanwhile, said the sixth flight under India's evacuation mission 'Operation Ganga' left for Delhi from Budapest with 240 Indian nationals.
During a televised address, Kuleba accused Russia of violating the ceasefire agreements and urged it to stop shooting to allow civilians, including foreign students, to evacuate.
A day later, Hussain's family in Kerala are thankful he escaped but also know that many perils lie ahead.
Of the 20,000 Indians who were stranded in war-torn Ukraine, 6,000 have been brought back to the country so far and the Centre is making all efforts for the safe return of the remaining ones, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said on Wednesday.
Top external affairs ministry officials on Monday briefed a parliamentary panel about efforts to bring back Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine, including plans for 13 evacuation flights in the next two-three days to its neighbouring countries and subsequent increase in the number of daily flights to nine, sources said.
Poland's Ambassador to India Adam Burakowski on Monday said his country is allowing entry to people of all nationalities who are leaving war-hit Ukraine by road and food and shelter will be provided to them.
Amid a war between Russia and Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India's several needs are connected to the involved countries but it is on the side of peace and hopes that all problems get resolved through dialogue.
Congress leaders have supported the Union government's stand of abstaining from voting in the anti-Russia resolution in the United Nations General Assembly, informed sources on Thursday.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal were part of the meeting chaired by Modi, besides several top bureaucrats.
Tears of joy rolled out of the eyes of parents and family members, some of whom distributed sweets and garlanded their children while others welcomed them with bouquets and hugs after their arrival at gate number 4 and 5 of the Indira Gandhi International airport.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the students were being taken to Poltava, some 175 km south of Sumy, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine.
About half of the students, who have been affected by the war, have taken admission to universities in other countries.
On Monday, the fifth Air India flight landed in Delhi from Bucharest with 249 Indian nationals while the sixth flight arrived from Budapest here with 240 Indian nationals, the officials said.
Hakki Pikkis are a semi-nomadic tribe, traditionally of bird catchers and hunters, from Karnataka. Their knowledge of the forest and traditional medicine is extensive and is prized by the Sudanese community.
Russia on Wednesday said it was working "intensely" to create a "humanitarian corridor" for safe passage to Russian territory for Indians stuck in Kharkiv, Sumy and other conflict zones in Ukraine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting to review India's security preparedness and the prevailing global scenario in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, government sources said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Indian medical students who have returned from Ukraine, China and Philippines due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war, to clear the MBBS final examination in two attempts in accordance with existing National Medical Commission (NMC) syllabus and guidelines without being enrolled in any medical college in India.
The students had boarded a special train from Lviv for Poland. They are likely to board flights to India on Thursday.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine put out a series of tweets giving a sense of the challenging situation in which Singh was taken out of Kyiv.
New Delhi
Stepping up its efforts to evacuate Indian students stranded in war-hit Ukraine, the Centre on Monday decided that Union ministers Hardeep Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and V K Singh will travel to its neighbouring countries to coordinate the evacuation mission and help students, government sources said.
More than 17,000 Indians, mostly students, were evacuated from the war-hit Ukraine under the mission.
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