Our Spl Correspondent
NEW DELHI, MARCH 1: Moved by the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine caused by war, Indian Christian leaders and others joined the world community and the leadership of respective global and regional communions in calling for an unconditional ceasefire.
Churches of all denominations in India have urged the faithful to pray for people suffering due to the war in Ukraine.
The joint call came from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), National Council of Churches of India (NCCI), the apex body of Protestant and Orthodox Churches, and the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI).
A statement was signed by Archbishop Felix Machado of Vasai, General Secretary of the CBCI, Reverend Asir Ebenezer, General Secretary of the NCCI, and Reverend VijayeshLal, Secretary-General of the EFI.
It further said, “We have a responsibility to pray for the transformation of leaders who take up arms in anger or revenge. May God’s protection and providence be upon Ukraine and Russia by which the entire region shall experience peace forever”.
According to MEA, an estimated 8,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the country issued the first advisory.
The 7th Operation Ganga flight with 182 Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine reached Mumbai from Bucharest (Romania) early Tuesday morning.
Union Minister Narayan Rane received the students at Mumbai airport.
The 8th flight of Operation Ganga departed from Budapest to Delhi.
A special evacuation flight has been pressed into service from New Delhi to Kosice, Slovakia, on Tuesday (March 1) to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine.
Union Minister for Law & Justice KirenRijiju will be on-board the flight, travelling as a special envoy of the Indian Government to oversee the evacuation.
The airline will use its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for the special flight.
The aircraft will fly directly to Kosice from Delhi and will return via a technical halt at Kutaisi in Georgia. The aircraft is scheduled to return by 7:40 a.m., on March 3.
This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday deputed 4 Union Ministers to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate evacuations of stranded Indians.
Other Ministers deputed to manage evacuations include Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia in Romania and Molodova, Minister of Petroleum Hardeep Singh Puri to Hungary and Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport Gen (Retd.) VK Singh to Poland.
Gen Singh had earlier helped evacuation of Indians from Yemen.
