Mar 3, 2022: According to a report by AFP, India on Thursday denied claims by Russia that Ukraine was holding Indian students hostage in Kharkiv, instead thanking Ukraine for its help in evacuations from the embattled city.

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a statement, “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,” he added in a statement.

The spokesperson observed on Thursday: “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,” he added. Out of the 20,000 Indians in Ukraine before the invasion, now only 3000 remain, mostly in Kharkiv.

This declaration came in response to Moscow’s claim that Indian students in Kharkiv were being used as a “human shield” by Ukrainian security forces.

In a statement following a video call between PM Narendra Modi and President Putin, the Kremlin said, “These students have already been, in effect, taken hostage by the Ukrainian power agencies that are using them as a human shield and are doing everything to prevent their leaving for Russia,”

“The Kyiv authorities are fully responsible for this,” it added, saying Putin told Modi that Moscow was trying to organise the evacuation of Indian students from Kharkiv via a humanitarian corridor.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also said Ukrainian authorities had forcibly detained a group of Indian students in Kharkiv, a spokesman for the ministry, Igor Konashenkov, said in a televised briefing.”

A brief statement from Modi’s office following his call with Putin said only that “many Indian students are stranded” in the city, and that the two discussed their evacuation.

The city of Kharkiv has come under intense shelling by Russian forces, with police and university buildings bombarded and government offices reduced to rubble. Among those killed there was an Indian student on Tuesday.

India has urged Russia and Ukraine to cease hostilities but has stopped short of condemning Moscow’s invasion. On Wednesday, it again abstained in a UN resolution deploring Russia’s actions.