All IndiaEdited by Arun NairUpdated: March 03, 2022 9:14 am IST
The Indian government today denied reports of Indian students being held as “hostages” in Ukraine, stating that it was in constant touch with Indian nationals in the war-torn country.
“We have not received reports of any hostage situation regarding any student. We have requested the support of the Ukrainian authorities in arranging special trains for taking out students from Kharkiv and neighboring areas to the western part of the country,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
The clarification came after the Russian government claimed that Ukrainian forces are keeping a large group of Indian students as “hostages” in in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which is virtually under Russian control.
“According to our information, Ukrainian authorities are forcibly keeping a large group of Indian students in Kharkiv who wish to leave Ukrainian territory and go to Belgorod,” a Russian military spokesperson said at a briefing on Wednesday.
“In fact, they are being held as hostages… Russian armed forces are ready to take all necessary measures for the safe evacuation of the Indian citizens. And send them home from the Russian territory with its own military transport planes or Indian planes, as the Indian side proposed to do,” he added.
The startling claim by the Russians came not long after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the situation in Kharkiv, where over a thousand Indian students were said to be stranded.