Government to rope in Air Force for Ukraine evacuation efforts

Strengthening its efforts to evacuate around 12,000 Indian citizens—largely medical students—who are stuck in war-hit Ukraine, the government has decided to rope in the Indian Air Force (IAF) along with commercial flights for its “Operation Ganga” initiative. Sources told The Indian Express that the Air Force has been asked to send their transport aircraft as part of the evacuation efforts.

While there is no official word from either the government or the Air Force yet, it is expected to deploy its large C-17 Globemaster aircraft for the operation. The aircraft were also used for evacuation efforts from Afghanistan last year, after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021.