Ukraine war Day 18: PM Modi reviews India's security preparedness

Even as Russia escalated military operations in Ukraine on day 18 of its invasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting in New Delhi with top ministers and bureaucrats to review India's security preparedness. 

The meeting, which was held at the prime minister's residence, was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, their secretaries, NSA Ajit Doval and Cabinet Secretary Rajeev Gauba among other senior officials. The ministers briefed the Prime Minister on the latest developments and different aspects of India's security preparedness in the border areas as well as in the maritime and air domain.

Government sources said Prime Minister Modi directed that all possible efforts should be made to bring back the mortal remains of Naveen Shekharappa, who died in Kharkiv.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing a high-level meeting to review India's security preparedness, and the prevailing global scenario in the context of the ongoing conflict in #Ukraine️ pic.twitter.com/zSznZ1Eimt

— Asianet Newsable (@AsianetNewsEN) March 13, 2022

The top ministers discussed the successful accomplishment of Operation Ganga, which was launched to evacuate the Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine since the Vladimir Putin administration gave the green signal to the launch of military offence on February 24. 

Under Operation Ganga, India has been managed to operate over 90 aircraft, including military aircraft, to bring back its nationals from the bordering nations of Ukraine. It has managed to evacuate over 20,000 Indians. 

India has also managed to evacuate nationals of neighbouring countries --- Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Few nationals of Lebanon and Syrian were also evacuated.

At the same time, the Prime Minister also took a detailed overview of global technology usage in the defence sector and India's advances in the same. 

Emphasising that latest technology needed to be integrated into the security apparatus, the Prime Minister reiterated that every effort must be made to make India self-reliant in the defence sector so that it strengthens our security and at the same time ensures economic growth.

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