The Indian government has not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student in Kharkiv and has requested the 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, the Ministry of External Affairs has said on Thursday.

The clarification follows reports of allegations made by the Russian Defence Ministry that Ukrainian authorities are keeping a group of Indian students in Kharkiv, who wished to leave the country, as hostages.

“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 the 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,” MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

‘Effective coordination’

India has been coordinating effectively with the countries in the region including Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Moldova to carry out the rescue efforts. This has made possible the exit of a large number of Indian nationals from Ukraine in the last few days.

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“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,” Bagchi added.

At a Russian military spokesperson briefing, it was alleged that Indian students were being held as hostages by Ukrainian authorities. The Russian official had further said that Russian armed forces are ready to take all necessary measures for the safe evacuation of Indian citizens and send them home from Russian territory with its own military transport planes or Indian planes.

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