IAF's first evacuation flight with 200 Indians lands in Delhi

The Indian Air Force's first evacuation flight with 200 Indians from Romanian capital Bucharest landed at the Hindon air base in Delhi in the early hours of Thursday, sources said.

The first flight -- which was conducted using C-17 military transport aircraft -- landed in Delhi at 1.30 am.

Three more C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) with approximately 300 evacuees from Ukraine will land at the Hindon airbase by 8 am on Thursday, sources said.

India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive.

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The IAF planes are also coming from these neighbouring countries, sources said.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt received the Indian evacuees of the first C-17 flight at the airbase, they said.

Approximately 8,000 Indians, mainly students, are stranded in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had said on Tuesday.

Four Union ministers have gone to Ukraine's western neighbours to facilitate the evacuation of Indian nationals.

Hardeep Singh Puri is in Hungary, Jyotiraditya Scindia is in Romania, Kiren Rijiju is in Slovakia and V K Singh is in Poland.

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