KYIV: India's 'Operation Ganga' will be successfully completed today after repatriating 20,000 people stranded in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

Accompanied by the Indian Embassy and the Red Cross, the mission with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's direct intervention was completed successfully after transporting 694 students from Sumy to Poltava by train in 12 buses for 12 hours and then by train to Lviv and from there to Poland.

Three special flights with them will return to India today. It is said that there are about 200 Malayalees in the gang.

The mission to evacuate 8,000 people via Romania has been completed. Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who led the rescue operation there with last group of 155 members, left for India. The evacuation was completed through Hungary, Moldova and Slovakia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention was crucial in the evacuation of the citizens within two weeks of the Russian invasion which began on February 24. The safe passage was made after several rounds of direct talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the body of a Karnataka native medical student who was killed in the shelling could not be brought back to India.