Kyiv: An Indian man living in Ukraine refused to take the return flight to India under Operation Ganga as he was told that his wife cannot be evacuated as she is not a citizen.
Gagan has fled the Ukraine capital Kyiv amid violence, but could not leave the country as his wife is eight months pregnant. “We’ll be moving to Poland. We’re currently at a friend’s place in Lviv,” Gagan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
I’m an Indian citizen, can go to India but not my wife, who is a #Ukrainian;have been told that only Indians will be evacuated;can’t leave my family here. My wife is 8-months pregnant, will be moving to Poland. We’re currently at a friend’s place in Lviv:Gagan, who fled from Kyiv pic.twitter.com/r3hWJDbgNU
— ANI (@ANI) March 6, 2022
Operation Ganga commenced on February 26 — two days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It became impossible to evacuate directly as the Ukrainian government shut down its airspace to civilian flights. This forced Indians to travel via land routes to neighbouring countries like Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova to be flown back to India.
Checkpoints have been set up along the border with Ukraine by the Indian embassies in these and other nearby countries to facilitate nationals in crossing over from the war-torn country.
Flights by India — Air India and the Indian Air Force — then fly them out and back home.
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