No Hostage Situation Involving Indian Students In Ukraine, Says Indian Foreign Ministry

By Shakir Husain NEW DELHI, March 3 (Bernama) -- India said it has not received any report that its students have been held hostage in Ukraine, contradicting Russian remarks that Ukrainian authorities prevented a large group of Indian students in Kharkov from leaving. "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," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Thursday. "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," it said. Russia's Ministry of Defence on Wednesday said Ukrainian authorities forcibly kept a large group of Indian students in Kharkov as they wanted to leave Ukraine and go to Belgorod in Russia. India is evacuating thousands of its stranded nationals to countries in Ukraine's west, from where they are flown home on special flights. -- BERNAMA