External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while addressing the Lok Sabha on the Ukraine situation on Tuesday, 6 April, asserted that no other country had matched the scale of India's Operation Ganga.
"Ours was the first evacuation programme. We brought back 20,000 of our citizens, as well as citizens of other countries. No other nation did this," the EAM said.
The Indian government is facilitating repatriation flights, as part of the ongoing Operation Ganga, for thousands of Indian nationals stranded in war-torn Ukraine.
He further added that India was deeply disturbed by the reports of killings at Bucha in Ukraine and stated that the country supported the call for an independent investigation.
The EAM said, "Many MPs brought up the incident in Bucha and I want to say that we are deeply disturbed by the reports. We strongly condemn the killings that have taken place there. It's an extremely serious matter and we support the call for an independent investigation."
The conflict in Ukraine has had significant consequences for the global economy and India's national economy, he added.
Further, Jaishankar also pointed out that like all countries, India too was assessing the implications and deciding what was best for "our national interest."
"What should India do in these circumstances? At a time when energy costs have spiked, clearly, we need to ensure that the common person in India is not subject to an additional and unavoidable burden," he stated.
'Strongly Against the Conflict'
Jaishankar further said, "What is India advocating in Ukraine? We are, first and foremost, strongly against the conflict. We believe that no solution can be arrived at by shedding blood and at the cost of innocent lives. In this day and age, dialogue and diplomacy are the right answers to any disputes."
India encourages talks between Ukraine and Russia, including at the level of their presidents, the Union minister said in the Parliament, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken to them both in this regard.
Jaishankar added, "This should bear in mind that contemporary global order has been built on UN Charter, on respect for international law, and for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States. If India has chosen a side, it is a side of peace and it is for an immediate end to violence."
Moreover, alluding to the further education of Indian students who returned from Ukraine due to the war, the minister indicated that India is in talks with Poland, Romania, Kazakhstan, and Hungary for completion of medical education of Ukraine returnees.
What Happened in Bucha?
As many as 410 bodies have been recovered from the wider Kyiv region that has been reclaimed from the Russian forces in Ukraine, officials said on 3 April.
"410 bodies of dead civilians were evacuated out of the liberated territories of the Kyiv region. Forensic experts have already examined 140," prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova was quoted as saying by news agency AFP on Sunday, 3 April.
"Bucha massacre was deliberate. Russians aim to eliminate as many Ukrainians as they can," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had said.
Satellite images of the Ukrainian town of Bucha show an approximately 45-foot-long (14-metre-long) trench dug into the grounds of a church where a mass grave has been identified, a private US company has said.
Russia, however, has denied any violence against civilians.
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