Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday claimed that some Indian students were “taken hostage” in the conflict zone by the Ukrainian security forces to use them as a “human shield”. However, New Delhi has rejected the claim on the hostage situation and said it has requested the support of Ukrainian authorities in arranging special trains for taking stranded nationals out from the war zone.
“I will never give up on my conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people but the way the battle is going shows we are fighting neo-Nazis. Ukraine is using civilians and foreigners as human shields. Indian students were taken hostage. We have evidence,” said Putin while opening a meeting with his security council.
Putin also said that the Russian military’s advance in Ukraine is going “according to plan” and ordered large compensations for Russian soldiers who lost their lives in the conflict. “I want to say that the special military operation is going strictly according to schedule, according to plan,” he said.
India Dismisses Claims on Hostage Situation
India has rejected claims made by both Russia and Ukraine that Indian students are being held hostage in Kharkiv city. At a media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “We have not received any 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 neighbouring areas to the western part of the country.”
The Russian claim figured in a readout issued by Kremlin that mentioned the key points made by Putin during a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday evening.
Bagchi reiterated that there was no hostage situation and India does not have any such reports. He added that Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla spoke to the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister late on Wednesday evening on the safe evacuation of the Indian students from Kharkiv. “We note that with the cooperation of the Ukrainian authorities, many students have left Kharkiv yesterday,” Bagchi said.
In responding to the media queries on the Indian students, Bagchi said India has been coordinating effectively with the countries in the region, including Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova, for evacuation of the Indians from Ukraine.
“We appreciate the help extended by the Ukrainian authorities to make this possible. We thank Ukraine’s western neighbours in receiving Indian nationals and for accommodating them while they waited for flights to take them back home,” he added.
A few hundred Indian students were stuck in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and several other conflict zones and India has asked both Russia and Ukraine to facilitate their safe passage to the border transit points for their exit to neighbouring countries.
Allegations, Counter-Allegations
In its statement last night, the Ukrainian foreign ministry “urgently called on the governments of India, Pakistan, China and other countries whose students have become hostages of the Russian armed aggression in Kharkiv and Sumy, to demand from Moscow that it allows the opening of a humanitarian corridor to other Ukrainian cities.”
The Russian readout of the Modi-Putin talks said the Russian side is trying to organise an “urgent evacuation of a group of the Indian students from Kharkov (Kharkiv) through the humanitarian corridor along the shortest route to Russia.” “At the same time, according to the latest information, these students are actually taken hostage by the Ukrainian security forces, who use them as a human shield and in every possible way prevent them from leaving for Russian territory,” it claimed, adding that the “responsibility, in this case, lies entirely with the Kyiv authorities.”
On the other hand, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry asked Russia to “immediately cease” its hostilities in Kharkiv and Sumy so that arrangements can be made for the evacuation of the civilian population, including foreign students, to safer cities.
“There are students from India, Pakistan, China and other counties who cannot leave because of the indiscriminate shelling and barbaric missile strikes by the Russian Armed Forces on residential areas and civilian infrastructure,” it said, adding that the government of Ukraine stands ready to assist foreign students to relocate from Kharkiv and Sumy if Russia commits to a ceasefire.
(with inputs from AFP and PTI)
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