No Indian student held hostage in Ukraine, 4 Air Force aircrafts brought home 800+ students, says MEA
Indian government has made it clear that there is no report of any hostage situation regarding any student from India in Ukraine. In response to media queries regarding reports of Indian students being held hostage in Ukraine, Arindam Bagchi, the official spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs, government of India, has 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 on 2nd of March, 2022 and we have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student.”
Bagchi said, “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 and have been coordinating effectively with the countries in the region including Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova.”
Bagchi has said in an official communiqué that 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.
In the meantime, four Indian Air Force aircraft brought home more than 800 Indians, including students, from war-hit Ukraine in the early hours Thursday. The C-17 aircraft took off from Romanian capital Bucharest, Hungary capital Budapest and Poland’s Rzeszow.
Amid escalating war, Russia has claimed that 498 of its soldiers have been killed so far in Ukraine, however, Ukraine has claimed to have killed over 7,000 Russian servicemen since the start of the fight. A military adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy Ukraine, has also claimed to have made hundreds of Russian army personnel including senior officers prisoners.
Meanwhile, the evacuation of Indians stranded in Kharkiv, Sumy and other conflict ridden areas of eastern Ukraine, is being done on top priority by the government of India with four ministers supervising the activities. India is continuously seeking a safe passage for its citizens from both Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier, despite US efforts to persuade India to vote in favour of anti-Russia resolution, 35 countries including India, Pakistan, China abstained from voting on the resolution in a 193-member body. However, the resolutions was adopted with 141 votes in favour, which is well over two-third majority. Thought, this voting is not legally binding, but it conveys the popular sentiments of the 193 member body.
Meanwhile, Russian troops are reported to have seized Kherson, one of the strategically important city in Southern parts of Ukraine.
