Union Minister Kiren Rijiju Arrives in Slovakia

In an effort to ramp up efforts to evacuate Indian nationals stuck at war-hit Ukraine, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has arrived at Slovakia on Wednesday.

Rijiju reached the Kosice airport near Ukraine border for ‘Operation Ganga’ mission. He was received by Indian Ambassador to Slovakia, Vanlalhuma and Pankaj Phukan, First Secretary, Embassy of India in Belgium capital Brussels.

In a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, a decision was taken to send four Union Ministers to supervise the evacuation process and send relief supplies to Ukraine as a humanitarian gesture.

The three other ministers who have been sent to different countries are Hardeep Puri, Jyotiradtiya Scindia and General (retired) V K Singh.

Puri is heading to Hungary, Scindia will look at Romania and Moldova while Singh will oversee the evacuation in Poland. They will visit these countries as Special Envoys of the Indian government.

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia met the Indian Ambassador to Romania and Moldova, Rahul Shrivastava to discuss the operational issues for evacuation and the flight plan Bucharest and Suceava in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Modi also spoke to Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae Ionel Ciuca and Prime Minister of Slovak Republic Eduard Heger, the two neighbouring countries west of Ukraine, from where India is planning to evacuate its citizens.