Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday claimed that the Ukrainian forces have taken several thousand foreign students, including Indians and Chinese, as hostages.
“Ukraine is using civilians and foreigners as human shields. Indian students were taken hostage. We have evidence… Thousands of young people, students who were studying in Ukraine’s colleges were kept for more than one day… more than 3,000 Indian citizens at the train station in Kharkiv,” President Putin claimed in a television address.
President Putin also claimed that Ukrainian neo-Nazi groups opened fire on Chinese nationals who were trying to leave the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Also read| Indian student shot-at while escaping Kyiv: Union Minister V.K. Singh
This is the second time the Russian government has claimed vis-à-vis the Indian nationals stuck in Kharkiv.
After a phone conversation between President Putin and PM Modi on Wednesday, the Kremlin released a press readout which said that President Putin had informed the Indian PM that students from his country have been taken as hostages by the Ukrainian soldiers. The students are being used as human shields.
The Russian defence ministry on Wednesday also repeated these claims in a press briefing in Moscow.
However, on Thursday morning, India’s Ministry of External Affairs dismissed these claims.
“We have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Baghchi said in a press briefing.
MEA further said that around 1,000 Indian nationals have left Kharkiv and a few hundred are reportedly yet to leave the city.
The MEA is yet to respond to President Putin’s latest claims.
Both Russian and Ukrainian government officials have been involved in allegations and counter-allegations regarding the situation of foreign nationals.
The Kremlin on Wednesday alleged that Indian students are being used as human shields by the Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian government officials have claimed that the Chinese and Indian governments must demand Russia to open a humanitarian corridor for the nationals to escape the “Russian armed aggression”.
On Thursday, it was reported that the Ukrainian and Russian officials have agreed to establish safe corridors to allow civilians to escape the war as well as deliver humanitarian supplies.
Amid the ongoing rescue operation of Indian nationals from Ukraine, an Indian student trying to flee Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has reportedly been shot at.
“I received info today that a student coming from Kyiv got shot and was taken back midway. We're trying for maximum evacuation in minimum loss,” Minister Gen. (retd.) V.K. Singh said.
The student has reportedly been admitted to a hospital.
