An Air India Boeing aircraft, which departed from Mumbai International Airport for Romanian capital Bucharest early morning on Saturday to bring back Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine is expected to arrive here at 8 pm, the airport operator said.

The first flight from Romania carrying 219 Indians evacuated from war-torn Ukraine left for Mumbai, informed Minister of external affairs S Jaishankar said on Saturday.

Evacuees were taken to Bucharest and Budapest for an alternative route of departure after the Ukrainian airspace shut down due to escalating tension with Russia.

CSMIA, in a statement, also said it has blocked a special corridor for the arriving passengers. 

Earlier in the day, the MEA said the first batch of Indian citizens evacuated from Ukraine had reached Romania via the Suceava border crossing.

Meanwhile, a second evacuation flight (AI1942) is expected to return to Delhi early on Sunday with another 250 Indian nationals, officials mentioned.

Air India is set to operate more flights to Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine via the alternative routes.

Prior to the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, Air India had operated a flight to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on February 22 that brought 240 people back to the country.

As many as 20,000 Indians, mainly students, were stuck in Ukraine when Russia invaded its border.

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