The Russian Defence Ministry said its armed forces would take all necessary measures to evacuate Indian citizens from Ukraine. At a media briefing, the Ministry alleged that the Ukrainian authorities are forcefully keeping a group of Indian students in Kharkiv against their wishes. When asked, Ukrainian Ambassador to India Igor Polikha strongly disagreed with the allegations and said Ukraine is helping all the international students stranded in the country.

“We did our best to lessen the issue of students trying to cross the western borders amid huge crowds of refugees, and this issue is solved. As far as I know, the first batch of Indians has already left Kharkiv towards the western border,” he said. India had asked its nationals to leave Kharkiv urgently to three nearby places by any sources. At the same time, Russia promised to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate Indians from the conflict zones.