As Air India flight AI1944 from Bucharest to Mumbai landed at 19.50 hours on Saturday, a sense of relief and jubilation filled the 219 Indian students on board who had to leave their colleges midway after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine. It also ended days of tense moments for their family members who anxiously waited outside the Mumbai international airport. 

A happy Himanshu Pawar, a student at the Bukovinian State Medical University who was among those evacuated from Ukraine through Romania, said, “Thankfully, our flight back home was comfortable and the Indian embassy in Romania also ensured that we were well taken care of till we landed in India. Union Minister Piyush Goyal told us that we were the first batch of students to be evacuated and flown to India. It was a warm welcome. The moment our flight landed at Mumbai airport, several others and I were relieved as those tense moments had ended. A war has broken out so it was scary and frightening.” The third-year MBBS student studies in Chernivtsi which is the west-most part of Ukraine, while the war is on in the eastern side—Kharkiv and Kyiv. Because of proximity to the Romanian border, the batch of students could easily cross the border and was received by Indian embassy officials.   Goyal entered the aircraft upon landing and boosted the morale of the students.