3,352 Indians have so far returned from Ukraine on evacuation flights
New Delhi:
There were celebrations, hugs, smiles and tears at Delhi airport on Wednesday as more evacuation flights arrived from Ukraine’s neighboring countries – Romania, Hungary and the first from Poland.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the total number of Indians who have returned via evacuation flights on Wednesday evening is 3,352. This figure is part of the nearly 17,000 Indian nationals who have left Ukraine since the first advice was issued.
At Delhi airport, the Mathur family from Delhi waited for 20-year-old Ayushi Mathur, who had been detained for three days at the border with Poland. She is a third year MBBS student at Lviv Medical University in Western Ukraine. From her teenage cousins to toddlers, they all came to welcome their sister with streamers and the tricolor.
#UkraineRussiaConflict † Tears of joy and relief as students go home
DailyExpertNews’s Sukirti Dwivedi reports: pic.twitter.com/AN0nan7AqL
— DailyExpertNews (@ndtv) March 2, 2022
Her uncle Harish Mathur said: “She is the only sister of seven brothers. They said they wanted to go to their sister too. They were desperately waiting for her to come back.”
“There was suffocation and huge crowds. I was stuck at the border with Poland for three days. The Indian embassy helped as soon as students reached Poland. The embassy offered the best of hotels, food and medical services,” Ayushi Mathur told DailyExpertNews.
While parents are relieved that their children are safe, they are also concerned that uncertainty about their future is looming. Ayushi’s mother Devki Mathur said: “For us, the first and foremost priority was her safe return. But later, of course, we will have to think about her career. She is in her third year of MBBS and preparing for her exams when the violence unfolded. Now we don’t even know if online education will be possible or not from the end of university we had weighed all options before sending it people said it is a good place to study and one can join as a doctor in defense sector after return. Now I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Union ministers such as Smriti Irani, Jitendra Singh and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat welcomed the students who arrived in Delhi on Wednesday.
On the other hand, Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia spoke to students at Bucharest airport in Romania, while General VK Singh distributed food and water to students at the border with Poland.
Video clips of the interaction showed Mr. Scindia telling the students, “I want you all to know and also tell your other friends that Modi ji has said that every student will be returned to India safely.”
An Indian Air Force C-17 plane departed for Romania with humanitarian aid on Wednesday and will return students. Another C-17 plane will bring back students from Rzeszow in Poland.
