Russian Embassy in India claims that Ukraine has held Indian students hostage to use them as human shields. This comes after the conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday where they discussed evacuation of Indian students stranded in Ukraine’s Kharkiv as Russia intensifies its advance on the city.
The Russian Embassy in India tweeted, “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.”
A Russian defence ministry spokesperson said during a press briefing, “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,” He added, “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.”
Several videos have emerged online where Ukrainian authorities are being accused of preventing Indian students from boarding trains out of Kyiv. Indian nationals have been asked to head towards the western part of the country in order to cross over to Ukraine’s neighbouring countries from where Indian repatriation flights are being operated.
Earlier, a video showing Indian students allegedly being manhandled by Ukrainian border guard personnel at a border crossing with Poland had gone viral. The video also showed the men in uniform firing shots in the air.
