The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has removed restrictions on the number of flights and seats between India and Ukraine under the air-bubble arrangement between the two countries. The move follows the decision by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to arrange more flights to fly Indian nationals out of Ukraine in light of the country’s tensions with Russia. "Any number of flights as well as charter flights can operate. Indian airlines have been informed to mount the flights due to increase in demand. MoCA is facilitating in coordination with MEA,” read an official statement. What prompted the move? Earlier this week, the Indian embassy in Kyiv issued an advisory asking citizens to leave. Following this, several stranded students in Ukraine and their parents reached out to the Indian government seeking help in arranging flights from the country. The MEA also set up a control room to assist Indians in Ukraine. Russia Wednesday announced the end of its Crimea military drills, but its claim was rejected by NATO. Despite the tensions, Ukraine has kept its airspace open. Information sourced from flight tracking portal Flightradar24 shows that several international airlines such as Ukrainian International Airlines, Qatar Airways, Air Arabia, FlyDubai, RyanAir, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, etc are operating flights to and from the country. Newsletter | Click to get the day's best explainers in your inbox
