India counters Russia’s claim of Indian students held hostage by Ukraine

“Our Embassy in Ukraine is in continuous touch with Indian nationals in Ukraine says MEA on Russia’s claim of Indian students taken hostage.

MEA said, “We note that with the cooperation of the Ukrainian authorities, many students have left Kharkiv yesterday,” and this was to counter the allegation made by the Ministry of Defence of Russia claiming that Ukrainian forces are keeping a large group of Indian students as “hostages” in Kharkiv, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday, 3 March, “We have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student.”

The MEA also 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 yesterday.”

Our response to media queries regarding reports of Indian students being held hostage in Ukraine ⬇️https://t.co/RaOFcV849D pic.twitter.com/fOlz5XsQsc

— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) March 3, 2022

On the other side, Russia is claiming that the Ukrainian authorities forcibly kept a large group of Indian students in Kharkov, seemingly to “use them as human shields”.

🔺From briefing by @mod_russia: 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. pic.twitter.com/cHHaTEyAHI

— Russia in India 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbIndia) March 2, 2022

The Russian Embassy in India’s official Twitter handle had posted a statement from the Russian Defence Ministry on Thursday, saying, “According to our information, Ukrainian authorities forcibly keep a large group of Indian students in Kharkiv who wish to leave Ukrainian territory and go to Belgorod (sic).”

At the borders of Ukraine, reports, and videos of the Ukrainian army beating up Indian students is sparking outrage in India.

Horrifying videos of Indian students not being allowed to board trains while Ukrainians on the trains seem to smugly smile at the students’ anguish who are begging them to get on the train, and this does not go well with Indians back home.

Indian students in Ukraine not allowed to board trains intentionally … are they being held as shields #RussianUkrainianWar #indianstudentsinukraine #RacistUkraine #SaveIndianStudents #GenevaConventions #India #Russia #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/qo240kUgpC

— ISHWAR (@Ishwar__M) March 2, 2022

There is a sense of deep neglect and abandonment that the students in Ukraine feel during this crisis and some of the Indian students in Ukraine say, “Don’t believe the news in Indian media, Indian govt is doing nothing for us”. – Says a student who’s stuck in the Ukraine war crisis and she reveals that when they were calling the Indian Embassy, their calls kept getting cut and instead of reaching out to the students who wanted guidance and also showed videos of the ruthless beating of the students by the Ukrainian army, the students’ calls were shockingly cut by the Indian embassy.   One student gave one name in particular, Vikram Kumar.

Modi’s PR v/s Ukraine’s ground reality."Don't believe the news in indian media, Indian govt is doing nothing for us". – Says a student who's stuck in Ukraine war crisis. #indianstudentsinukraine#UkraineRussiaWar #UkraineRussia https://t.co/yFbtX6WjVQ https://t.co/yFbtX6WjVQ pic.twitter.com/XyPsg0gyhq

— 【𝗘𝗿】 【𝗔𝗮𝗸】 【𝗧𝗵𝘂】 【⚽】 (@ErAakThu) February 28, 2022

Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal blamed the Modi government for not bringing back the students home earlier, and said, “Because of late running train passengers are suffering. If Govt was aware of this development then why were students not brought back earlier. It’s negligence and it’s a crime. We can’t play this game with our students ” #MamataBanerjee on #IndiansInUkraine #indianstudentsinukraine

“Because of late running train passengers are suffering. If Govt was aware of this development then why were students not brought back earlier. It’s negligence & it’s a crime. We can’t play game with our students ” #MamataBanerjee on #IndiansInUkraine #indianstudentsinukraine pic.twitter.com/1f3hThka5V

— Tamal Saha (@Tamal0401) March 2, 2022