New Delhi: Final batch of students who were stuck in the war-affected Ukraine returned to India on three flights on Friday.

Three flights carrying 674 people on board, mainly students, flew from Poland and arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 5.45 am and 12.20 pm. An Indian Air Force's C-17 military plane carrying 213 passengers landed at Hindon air base at 12.15 pm.

The Ministry of External Affairs had earlier urged Indians stranded in Ukraine to board these flights as these would be the last flights to New Delhi.

In a tweet, MEA Minister S Jaishankar thanked the neighbouring countries of Ukraine for their help. The Indians boarded flights from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Maldova. He also said that the evacuation of the students, particularly from Sumy, was challenging. Sumy was the most affected city in the ongoing war, and more than 600 Indian nationals were stuck in that city, and they were pleading with the government to evacuate them.

He also appreciated the work of Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, General (Retd) VK Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who coordinated from the neighbouring countries for the safe evacuation of Indian students.

Meanwhile, anxious Indian students are planning to leave Russia. The Indian embassy in Moscow assured them that there is no reason to worry and there is no security reason for Indian students who are studying at various universities in the country to leave.

The embassy started receiving messages from anxious Indian students seeking its advice on returning back to India or on continuing their stay in the country. Russia is witnessing disruption in banking services and direct flight connectivity. But if students want to return to India, they may consider doing so, it said.

Ukrainian officials and president Volodymyr Zelenskyy have claimed that the mayor of Melitopol, a city in southern Ukraine, was kidnapped on Friday by Russian soldiers who are occupying the city. In a Twitter post, Ukraine’s parliament charged that  a group of 10 occupiers kidnapped the mayor, Ivan Fedorov,