New Delhi: An Air India flight took out from Mumbai on Saturday morning for Bucharest, Romania's capital, to rescue Indians stranded in Ukraine as a result of Russia's military offensive. 

The aircraft, AI1943, departed Mumbai around 3.40 a.m. and is likely to arrive in Bucharest around 10 a.m. (Indian Standard Time), according to top government authorities. They reported that Indian people who crossed the Ukraine-Romania border by road are being taken to Bucharest by Indian government personnel in order to be evacuated on an Air India flight.

On Saturday, Air India would add more flights to Bucharest and Budapest, Hungary's capital, to repatriate Indians stranded in Ukraine.

Since the morning of February 24, the Ukrainian airspace has been blocked to civil aircraft operations, therefore evacuation flights are being operated out of Bucharest and Budapest. Officials estimate that 20,000 Indians, mostly students, are currently stranded in Ukraine.

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