New Delhi dismisses allegations of hostage-taking of Indian students in Ukraine A statement from the Foreign Ministry on Thursday said, “The Indian Embassy in Ukraine has been in constant touch with Indian nationals there. Yesterday (Wednesday) many Indian students left the city of Kharkiv. The statement also praised the Ukrainian government’s efforts to repatriate Indian students.
The statement also said that the Indian embassy in Ukraine had not verified the allegations against the students. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi posted the statement on his official Twitter account, saying, “We are responding to media reports about the hostage-taking of Indian students in Ukraine.”
Russia on Wednesday night accused Ukraine’s military of taking Indian students hostage. The Russian embassy in Delhi tweeted, “According to the latest information, the Ukrainian security forces have taken the students hostage and are using them as human shields.” They are being prevented from going to Russia by any means. Kyiv is fully responsible for this.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry claims that all Indian students seeking to leave Ukraine through the Russian border, have been detained in Kharkiv. Vladimir Putin’s government has said it will repatriate them once they arrive in Russia. The Indian Foreign Ministry on Thursday said it was in constant contact with Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Moldova to repatriate Indians stranded in war-torn Ukraine.
