India to operate 3 flights today to bring back 600 students evacuated from Ukraine's Sumy

New Delhi: India will operate three flights on Thursday to bring back the last big group of 600 students evacuated from the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy. The students had boarded a special train from Lviv for Poland. They reached Poland on Thursday.

The students reached Lviv in western Ukraine from Poltava on another special train. According to the details shared by the students with PTI, three flights will be operated between 4.30 pm and 6.30 pm (local time) from the Rzeszow airport in Poland to bring them back.

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The first flight at 4.30 pm (9 pm IST) is for first, second and third year students. The second flight at 5.30 pm (10.30 pm IST) is for fourth and fifth year students and the third at 6.30 pm (11.30 pm IST) is for students with pets, fifth and sixth year students and for any other students who may have been left behind.

"We have reached Poland, from here we are expected to take the flight for India," said Jisna Jiji, a 25-year-old medical student. Covering hundreds of miles across Ukraine, using multiple means of transport, the students were evacuated from the war-hit east European country after their two weeks of excruciating stay in beleaguered Sumy.

The Indian government is carrying out the most delicate and challenging evacuation exercise under Operation Ganga to help stranded Indians leave Ukraine. The operation to evacuate the 600 students from Sumy began on Tuesday morning. The Indian nationals were taken from Sumy in a convoy of 13 buses escorted by the International Committee of the Red Cross to Poltava, Anshad Ali, a student coordinator, said.

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The students endured a strenuous journey to escape the war-hit region. They were evacuated in the second attempt from Sumy, which has been witnessing heavy shelling and intense gunfire ever since the Russian offensive on Ukraine began last month.

For two weeks, the Indian students in Sumy waged a doughty battle in bomb shelters and basements of their hostels in frigid weather, low on food, drinking water and other essential supplies, as Russian forces clobbered the city with rockets and heavy gunfire.