NEW DELHI: More than 7,400 Indians are expected to be brought back to India from Ukraine's neighbouring countries on special flights in the next two days, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Thursday.
Indian carriers -- Air India Express, Air India, SpiceJet, IndiGo, Vistara and Go First -- are expected to operate a total of 17 flights on Friday, the ministry's statement noted.
India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive.
"The number of civilian flights is being scaled up further, and more than 7,400 people are expected to be brought through special flights in next two days," the ministry's statement mentioned.
It stated that 3,500 people are expected to be brought back to India on Friday and over 3,900 on Saturday.
The ministry said India has till now brought back 6,998 people on special flights -- including the ones operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF) -- since February 22.
It noted that 13 evacuation flights -- 10 by Indian carriers and three by the IAF -- are scheduled to return to India on Thursday.
Four Union ministers have gone to Ukraine's western neighbours to facilitate the evacuation of Indian nationals.
Hardeep Singh Puri is in Hungary, Jyotiraditya Scindia is in Romania, Kiren Rijiju is in Slovakia and V K Singh is in Poland.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said the pace of India's evacuation operation from Ukraine is accelerating and about 1,000 Indians have left Kharkiv to nearby Pisochyn pursuant to its advisory a day ago.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that the Indian side is in touch with both Ukrainian and Russian authorities to examine the modalities of how Indians can be evacuated from both Kharkiv and Sumy.
"We are closely following the developments in Kharkiv, Sumy and other cities in eastern Ukraine. As you know yesterday we issued an advisory for Indians in Kharkiv to leave the city by 6PM local time. Pursuant to this a large number of students have left Kharkiv and are currently in the nearby issue of Pisochyn. We estimate this number to be around 1,000," he said.
"We are currently looking at transportation options to move them from there to western Ukraine or southern Ukraine depending on the transportation options," Bagchi said.
He said the pace of India's evacuation operation is continuing to accelerate.
Fifteen flights landed in India during last 24 hours, bringing back more than 3,000 Indians, he said.
Bagchi also informed that 18 flights have been scheduled for next 24 hours to bring back Indian nationals from Ukraine.
A total of about 18,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since our first advisory was released, he said.
India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive.
The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Thursday advised all Indian nationals in Kharkiv to fill up an online form on an urgent basis as the Russian onslaught on the eastern Ukrainian city continued.
The embassy on Wednesday had asked all its citizens stranded in Kharkiv to leave immediately for three safe zones that were in the range of up to 16 km from the city.
At a media briefing on Thursday evening, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said around 1,000 Indians have reached Pisochyn following the advisory by the embassy on Wednesday.
"All Indian Nationals who are in KHARKIV excluding PISOCHYN, please fill up details contained in the form on an urgent basis," the embassy said in an advisory on Thursday.
The details sought in the Google form are name, email, phone number, address in Kharkiv, passport number and additional people accompanying any Indian.
Bagchi said a few hundred Indians are believed to be still stuck in Kharkiv and that India is closely following developments in the city along with the situation in other conflict zones in eastern Ukraine.