NEW DELHI: India has no immediate plans to evacuate its nationals from Ukraine, but the restrictions on the number of flights that can operate between the two countries are being eased to facilitate the return of Indians.
While the Indian embassy in Kyiv had on Tuesday advised Indians to consider leaving Ukraine to temporarily leave the country in view of the uncertain situation, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said there was no reason to panic and evacuate people.
"Our embassy is functioning normally and the staff is addressing all queries from students and Indians wishing to travel to India. We don't have an exact number of how many are looking at returning as some students don’t want to miss their classes and are waiting to find out if online classes would be possible remotely," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
There are close to 20,000 Indian students in Ukraine. "Our focus is and remains on Indian citizens, students, nationals rather than anything larger than that and in terms of what we need to do to ensure that they are safe," Bagchi said.
Noting that there were limited number of flights between India and Ukraine under the air bubble arrangement, Bagchi said the restrictions on the number of flights and passengers are being removed. "Indian carriers are being encouraged to operate charter flights between India and Ukraine," he said.
However, no special flights are being arranged for evacuation, the MEA spokesperson said in a press briefing.
The civil aviation ministry earlier in the day eased the restrictions on the number of flights and seats between India and Ukraine. The decision was taken in view of the prevailing situation in Ukraine amidst the military build-up around the border with Russia.
At present, Ukraine International Airlines operates flights on the Kyiv-Delhi route. There are also flights operated by Air Arabia, Fly Dubai and Qatar Airways, though they are expensive and take longer as there are one or more stopovers.