New Delhi

Government of India India is working with Ukraine and Russia to evacuate what is perhaps the last batch of its citizens including a large number of students from Kyiv and Sumy even as the two waring nations blamed each other for the plight of the stranded Indians.

Responding to the Russian government’s claim that the Indian students were being kept hostage by the Ukranian forces in Kharkiv and Kyiv. Spokesperson of the ministry of externa affairs Arindam Bagchi denied such reports about the Indians. In a statement released on Twitter, he said: "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. 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, Hungarlovakia 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."

So far India has evacuated 17,000 Indians from Ukraine under operation Ganga ever since Russia launched attacks on selected cities of Ukraine to reprimand Kyiv for seeking membership of the USA-led NATO military alliance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the situation in Ukraine and sought safe passage for Indians caught in the conflict in the country.

According to the MEA spokesperson, the two leaders reviewed the situation, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck, and discussed the safe evacuation of Indian nationals from the conflict areas. Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defence released a statement on this. It said: “According to our information, Ukrainian authorities forcibly keep a large group of Indian students in Kharkov (Kharkiv) who wish to leave Ukrainian territory and go to Belgorod. “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.” On the other side, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine blamed Russia for the plight of the students. The foreign ministry of the country said Ukraine "urgently calls on governments of India, Pakistan, China and other counties whose students have become hostages of Russian armed aggression in Kharkiv and Sumy, to demand from Moscow that it allows opening of a humanitarian corridor to other Ukrainian cities." It’s clear that the Ukrainian authorities are leveraging the presence of foreign students to force Russia to cease the fire.

“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. “The Ukrainian government is committed to providing foreign students with all necessary assistance to enable them to return safely to their home countries.” The spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in Delhi that the Embassy in Kyiv has been asked to set up a temporary office in Lviv to facilitate border crossing into neighbouring European countries by Indian nationals. He also said that a mechanism has been established for issuing emergency certificates to those who lost their Indian passports.

"A substantial segment of our embassy team is now at Lviv for this purpose. Location of the other segment of the embassy team is dynamic," he added. "We are exploring options to reach eastern Ukraine to assist the evacuation of citizens who are stuck there. We are seeing if our teams can reach there, it's not easy because the route is not open all the time," the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile while abstaining from voting on a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly that deplored Russia for attacking Ukraine, Indian permanent representative S Tirmurti raised the issue of the safety of the Indian students in Ukraine. Calling for India’s support for safe humanitarian access to conflict zones’ he raised the issue of the death of an Indian student Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar in Kharkiv. Tirumurti said that India "demands safe and uninterrupted passage for all Indian nationals, including our students who are still stranded in Ukraine, particularly from Kharkiv and other cities in the conflict zones".

"We have reiterated this demand to both the Russian Federation and Ukraine," he said while thanking the neighbouring countries for helping with the evacuation of Indian students.

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