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Russia-Ukraine crisis: Just a day after the Russian Embassy in India claimed Indian students have been taken hostage by Ukrainian security forces to use them as a human shield in the wake of ongoing Ukraine crisis, the Ministry of External Affairs responded to the media queries saying there have been "no reports of any hostage situation regarding any student."
The official spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi quashed the floating rumors stating “our Embassy in Ukraine is in continuous touch with Indian nationals in Ukraine. We note that with the cooperation of the Ukrainian authorities, many students have left Kharkiv yesterday. We have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student."
The release further noted, “we have requested 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. We have been coordinating effectively with the countries in the region including Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova."
"A large number of Indian nationals have been evacuated from Ukraine in the last few days. 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," it added.
Meanwhile, Russia in India wrote in a tweet, "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 Russia. Responsibility, in this case, lies entirely with the Kyiv authorities."
"According to our information, Ukrainian authorities forcibly keep a large group of Indian students in Kharkov who wish to leave Ukrainian territory and go to Belgorod," the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Defence said during the briefing.
"In fact, they are being held as hostages & offered to leave the territory of Ukraine via Ukrainian-Polish border. They offered to go through the territory where active hostilities are taking place," he said.
He further said that 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.
However, Ukraine has reacted to Russia's allegations and called on the Russian Federation to "immediately cease its hostilities in Kharkiv and Sumy so that they can arrange the evacuation of the civilian population, including foreign students, to safer Ukrainian 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," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The statement said that the Ukrainian government stands ready to assist foreign students to relocate from Kharkiv and Sumy.
"The Government of Ukraine stands ready to assist foreign students to relocate from Kharkiv and Sumy should Russia commit to a ceasefire. Attempting to arrange evacuations through cities that are being subjected to Russian bombing and missile strikes is extremely dangerous," read the statement.
Ukraine demanded Moscow to allow the opening of a humanitarian corridor to other Ukrainian cities.
"We urgently call on the governments of India, Pakistan, China and other counties 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," said Ukraine's Foreign Ministry in a statement.
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