[Watch] First Flight With 219 Indian Nationals Takes Off From Romania; Check Students’ Reactions

Bhubaneswar: The first flight to Mumbai with 219 Indian nationals, who were stranded in Ukraine following the Russian invasion, took off from Bucharest airport in Romania on Saturday.

“Our teams are working on the ground round the clock for the safe evacuation of Indians from Ukraine. I am personally monitoring,” Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted.

Notably, more than 470 students had crossed to Romania from Ukraine through the Porubne-Siret Border, the previous day.

“The first batch of evacuees from Ukraine reach Romania via Suceava border crossing. Our team at Suceava will now facilitate travel to Bucharest for their onward journey to India,” Official Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, India, Arindam Bagchi had tweeted on Friday.

Odisha has so far collected information about 1,200 students from the state being stranded in Ukraine.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, 9,600 students from Odisha had travelled abroad for education in the last 5 years.

On Friday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced that his government would bear the expenses of bringing back students and workers from Odisha stranded in Ukraine. He also discussed their safe return with Jaishankar.

Check the video and hear the students recollect the horrors of war here: