Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, both the countries have accused each other of holding Indian students hostage. Russia said that the Ukrainian army is holding Indian students hostage and that the Russian army is taking all measures possible to send these students home. Ukraine said that students from India, Pakistan and China are being held hostage.
The tweets from both the sides came at around the same time.
“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. 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.
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,” said the Russian embassy in India in a series of tweets.
The MFA of Ukraine Twitter account, on the other hand, tweeted: “We urgently call on the governments of India, Pakistan, China and other countries 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.”
The tweets came hours after a phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The leaders reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck. They discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas,” a release from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
Meanwhile, regular missions under Operation Ganga, are being undertaken for the safe return of stranded Indians in Ukraine. Additionally, Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (retd) VK Singh have reached Hungary, Romania and Moldova, Slovakia, and Poland to manage the evacuation.
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