Ukraine evacuations: 2 Air India flights may leave for Bucharest today

Ukraine evacuations: 2 Air India flights may leave for Bucharest today.

Two Air India flights are scheduled to depart for Bucharest on Friday evening to repatriate Indians who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border.

"The situation is very tense. Bringing Indians safely from Ukraine is a top priority of the government, which is closely monitored by Prime Minister Modi. All possible efforts are being made," the source said.

Accordingly, Air India has two Boeing 787 aircraft and a small crew of security personnel and engineers.

The government is making all the necessary arrangements, such as taking Indians from Ukraine across the border into Romania under their protection and bringing them to Bucharest.

"The situation on the ground and in the region is fluid. Once everything needed to land in the right place, including all the above flying permits, the planes will depart," the sources said.

Kyiv is under attack and its airspace has been declared "restricted" to civilian aircraft. So the only way out at present is to reach the border with the neighboring Eastern European countries and bring the Indians there.

Many Indian students in Ukraine have fled the country on Ukraine International Airlines, and thousands more are still stranded there on single-stop options such as Qatar Airways, Fly Dubai, Emirates and other Gulf carriers.

Further flights will be operated on the advice of the Ministry of External Affairs, depending on where it can be arranged to take Indians to some nearby Eastern European country, and then flights will be dispatched.