Russia-Ukraine war: PM Modi calls high-level meeting on Ukraine, 2nd since yesterday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting on the situation in Ukraine on Sunday night even as India evacuated 688 more nationals from the war-hit country.

The meeting was held soon after Modi returned to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi where he addressed an election rally of the BJP earlier in the day.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and top government officials attended the meeting.

It is not immediately known what transpired in the meeting, though the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from Ukraine, where Russia has launched a military operation since February 24, was expected to be the top agenda.

India has brought back a total of 907 stranded citizens from that country since Saturday when the first evacuation flight from Bucharest with 219 people on board landed in Mumbai under Operation Ganga.

The second flight (AI1942) departed from Bucharest with 250 Indian citizens and landed at the Delhi airport around 2.45 am on Sunday. With 240 Indian nationals on board, the third evacuation flight from Bucharest landed at the Delhi airport around 9.20 am on Sunday, followed by another Tata Group-run carrier's flight from Bucharest with 198 Indian nationals at 5.35 pm.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that approximately 13,000 Indians are stranded in Ukraine as of now, and the government is making efforts to bring them back as soon as possible.

The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since February 24 morning when the Russian military offensive began. Therefore, the Indian evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest.

Indian nationals, who reached the Ukraine-Romania border and Ukraine-Hungary border, were taken to Bucharest and Budapest, respectively, by road with the assistance of Indian government officials so that they could be evacuated in these Air India flights.

Modi had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Thursday, in which he had stressed that the safe evacuation of Indian citizens from Ukrain was the topmost priority of the government.