Chennai: While the Russian Defense Ministry said Russia was trying to evacuate Indian students from Kharkiv and accused Ukriane of taking Indian students hostage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to President Vladimir Putin over phone and sought safe evacuation of Indians.
The Kremlin claimed Wednesday night that Indian students in Kharkiv had been taken hostage by Ukrainian security forces who were using them as a human shield to prevent them from leaving for Russian territory.
The Prime Minister’s Office said, ‘The leaders reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck. They discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas.’
Major General Igor Konashenkov, in a statement said: ‘According to our data, in Kharkiv, the Ukrainian authorities are forcibly detaining a large group of Indian students who want to leave the Ukrainian territory and go to Belgorod. In fact, they are being held hostage and offered to leave the territory of Ukraine through the Ukrainian-Polish border. They offer to go through the territory where active hostilities are being conducted.’
‘The Armed Forces are ready to take all necessary measures for the safe evacuation of Indian citizens. And send them home from the territory of Russia with their military transport planes or Indian planes, as the Indian side proposed to do,’ he added.
Meanwhile, Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Wednesday said that there had been a sharp increase in the number of Indians who have left Ukraine.
‘We now estimate that nearly 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine borders since our advisories were issued,’ Bagchi said.
‘During the last 24 hours, 6 flights have landed in India, taking the total number of flights that have landed in India to 15 and the total number of Indians who have returned on these flights to 3,352,’ he added.