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The Centre on Friday said 17,000-odd Indians from Ukraine have been evacuated and remaining 7,000-odd would be brought back swiftly and informed the Supreme Court that some medical students, earlier stuck at the Ukraine border, would be brought to India on Friday night through a special flight from Romania.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli appreciated the Union government's efforts but said given the anxiety of parents about their children studying in Ukraine, the Centre could open a helpline to inform them about the whereabouts and safety of the students and the schedule for their evacuation to India.

Attorney General K K Venugopal said the Centre is as much concerned as the SC about safe evacuation of Indians from Ukraine and assured that the government had the wherewithal and experience to accomplish the task. He said during the Gulf War in 1990, the government had evacuated over 1 lakh Indian citizens from Kuwait. As many as 488 flights by Air India over a period of 63 days had brought back the Indians from Kuwait.

Over 6,200 Indians have returned from Ukraine through special civilian flights and more than 7,400 Indians are expected to arrive in the next two days, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) informed on Thursday.

India has mounted a massive rescue operation named `Operation Ganga` to bring back Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine. Ministry of External Affairs, in close coordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is making all efforts to bring the Indian students back to India at a fast pace. Indian Airlines are putting their resources in a faster evacuation process, the release said.

PM Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and sought Russian assistance in the evacuation of Indian nationals from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which has been ravaged by Moscow’s military offensive . “The leaders reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck. They discussed safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas,” an official statement said.

There were reports that female Indian students had been evacuated from Kharkiv and efforts are being made to pull out the male students.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the Ukraine situation after an Indian student was killed in Kharkiv shelling. This is the fourth such meeting held by the PM in the last two days.

An Indian student was killed in shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv region this morning, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.

Indian student Naveen, who hailed from Haveri in Karnataka, was killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Naveen's family and offered condolences.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai spoke to Naveen's family to express grief over Naveen's demise in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will shortly chair third high-level meeting with his cabinet colleagues in the matter of less than 24 hours. Prime Minister Modi said that the entire government machinery is working round the clock to ensure that all Indians there are safe and secure.

The development comes hours after Ministry of External Affairs informed that four Union Ministers will remain stationed in Ukrainian neighbourhood to oversee Operation Ganga.

Prime Minister pointed that the visit of four senior ministers as his Special Envoys to various nations will energize the evacuation efforts. "It is reflective of the priority the Government attaches to this matter," Arindam Bagchi, Spokersperson, Ministry of External Affairs, said.