Indian  student  killed  in  Kharkiv as battle rages

Rezaul H Laskar and Rahul Singh

rezaul.laskar@htlive.com

India on Tuesday confirmed the death of an Indian student in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which has been hit by intense shelling, and demanded that Russia and Ukraine provide safe passage to its nationals stranded in conflict zones.

News of the tragedy came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the Indian Air Force to join ongoing efforts to evacuate thousands of Indians from conflict-torn Ukraine, officials familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity.

“With profound sorrow, we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family. We convey our deepest condolences to the family,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.

As of Monday, an estimated 12,000 Indians were still stranded in Ukraine while some 2,000 had been brought out through the evacuation programme named Operation Ganga.

IAF has put its C-17 Globemaster III fleet on standby to execute any mission assigned to it, the officials said.

“Leveraging the capacities of IAF will ensure that more people are evacuated in a shorter time. It will also help deliver humanitarian aid more efficiently. IAF is likely to deploy several C-17 aircraft as part of Operation Ganga from today,” said one of the officials cited above.

IAF operates a fleet of 11 C-17 transport planes bought from the US in a government-to-government deal worth around $4.5 billion. “IAF is geared up for any requirements of evacuation of our citizens from Ukraine,” an IAF official said.

India reiterated its demand for Russia and Ukraine to ensure safety and safe passage for Indian nationals caught up in conflict zones, mostly in eastern and southern Ukraine. The demand was first made by foreign secretary Harsh Shringla during separate meetings with the Russian and Ukrainian envoys on Sunday.

“Foreign secretary is calling in ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine to reiterate our demand for urgent safe passage for Indian nationals who are still in Kharkiv and cities in other conflict zones,” Bagchi said in a second tweet.

“Similar action is also being undertaken by our ambassadors in Russia and Ukraine,” he added.

Before the official confirmation, several Indian students in Kharkiv had posted on social media that a student, believed to be from Karnataka, had died when he stepped out to get food. Several videos posted on social media had shown the shelling of different locations in Kharkiv, including an area near Kharkiv National Medical University (KNMU), which has numerous Indian students.

There are varying estimates for the total number of Indian students in Kharkiv, ranging from 2,000 to 4,000. Indian and other foreigners have been unable to leave most cities in eastern Ukraine, including Kharkiv and Sumy, since the country’s airspace was closed on 24 February. Rail and public transport services have also been disrupted in the eastern region.

Though an Indian team has been positioned in the Russian city of Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border, to facilitate evacuations from Kharkiv and nearby cities, the conflict in that region has been an obstacle, the person said. “Therefore, it is imperative that Russia and Ukraine respond to our need for safe passage urgently,” a person aware of the matter said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Indian embassy in Kyiv advised all Indians in the Ukrainian capital to leave the city “urgently” by train or any other means against the backdrop of reports of a 64-km-long Russian military convoy moving towards the region.

“All Indian nationals, including students, are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today. Preferably by available trains or through any other means available,” the embassy said in the brief advisory posted on Twitter.

Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies of the Russian military convoy moving in on Kyiv showed that it stretched for almost 64km. The imagery from Monday showed the convoy appears to include hundreds of armoured vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and logistics vehicles. NDTV reported the Indian embassy in Kyiv has shut down and the ambassador and the staff are on their way to the western part of the country.