Ukraine Row: India Deploys Russian Origin Aircraft To Rescue Indians

Russian-origin Ilyushin-76 aircraft will deploy says Govt. source

New Delhi: To evacuate the Indians stranded in Ukraine, the Indian Govt. decided to deploy its Russian-origin Ilyushin-76 heavy-lift transport aircraft to Russia to bring back Indian citizens returning from Ukraine under Operation Ganga.

According to the top Govt. sources, the Air Force is taking all precautions and not sending its American-origin C-17 aircraft, instead of deploying the Russian-origin Ilyushin-76 for the evacuation mission from Russia.

In an official report by news agency ANI, the Govt. source said: "Indian Air Force is deploying Russian-origin Ilyushin-76 heavy-lift transport aircraft to Russia to bring back Indian citizens returning from Ukraine. India is not deploying American-origin C-17 planes for the mission."

While adding, the source said, the Il-76 has expected to get clearance for taking off shortly.

Moreover, the Govt. sources said that several Indian students from Ukraine are moving into the Russian territory from the Ukrainian side with assistance from the Indian government.

Looking into the Russian invasion, the United States and Russia are opposing each other. There is a possibility that Russians may not like the presence of American origin planes in their airspace.

India has, so far, deployed only C-17s and commercial planes to bring back citizens from Poland, Romania and Hungary to evacuate citizens returning from there.

Although, amidst the Russia-Ukrainian War, the Indian Embassy is helping the Indians stranded in Ukraine to escape the country. 

Ukrainian forces are keeping a large group of Indian students as "hostages" in Kharkiv, the Russian Defence Ministry has alleged, amid an escalating assault on the country on Wednesday.