New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs has clarified that the government has not received any report on the alleged hostage of Indian students in the war-hit Ukraine. 

In response to media queries regarding reports of Indian students being held hostage in Ukraine, the Official Spokesperson, Shri Arindam Bagchi 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. 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.

We have been coordinating effectively with the countries in the region including Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova. 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. We thank Ukraine’s western neighbours in receiving Indian nationals and for accommodating them while they waited for flights to take them back home.”

Russian Defence Ministry had alleged that Ukrainian forces have kept a large group of Indian students as ‘hostages’ in Kharkiv and are not allowed to leave the city.

Russian allegation came after India has issued a fresh advisory to its students stranded in Kharkiv for one week. Russia has alerted Indian authorities that it will carry out aggressive attacks on Kharkiv asked India to send its citizens to a safer zone.

Now Russia has alleged that Ukraine forces have kept captive Indians at Kharkiv. "According to our information, Ukrainian authorities are forcibly keeping a large group of Indian students in Kharkiv who wish to leave Ukrainian territory and go to Belgorod," a Russian military spokesperson said at a briefing.