Indian students taken hostage by Ukrainian security forces, claims Russia

New Delhi: Indian students have been taken hostage by Ukrainian security forces to use them as a “human shield”, the Russian Defence Ministry has alleged, amid an escalating assault on the eastern European country on Wednesday. 

This came after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in Kharkiv and discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas.

"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," Russia in India wrote in a tweet.

"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 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.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in a tweet, said that the country has established an emergency hotline for African, Asian and other students wishing to leave Ukraine as the tensions between Moscow and Kyiv rages on.

"We have established an emergency hotline for African, Asian and other students wishing to leave Ukraine because of Russia`s invasion. +380934185684 We are working intensively to ensure their safety & speed up their passage. Russia must stop its aggression which affects us all," he tweeted. 

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