The foreign ministry said on Tuesday that a medical student from Karnataka was killed in shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The student has been identified as twenty-one-year-old Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar. He hailed from Karnataka’s Haveri district and was a fourth-year medical student at the Kharkiv National Medical University in Kharkiv.
Reportedly, Naveen was standing in a queue outside a grocery shop when he was hit in shelling by the Russian forces.
Pooja Praharaj, who is a student coordinator in Kharkiv, said that he lived near the Governor’s House and was standing in the queue for food. All of a sudden there was an airstrike which blew up the Governor’s House and Naveen too was killed, said Praharaj while talking to NDTV.
The ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi Tweeted on Tuesday that the foreign secretary has called in the Ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine to restate the Indian Government’s demand for urgent and safe passage for Indian nationals who are still in Kharkiv and other cities in Ukraine.
She further said that a Ukrainian woman picked up his phone and informed that the owner of the phone is being taken to the morgue.
According to Ukrainian government data, Indians make up about a quarter of the 76,000 foreign students in Ukraine. According to the foreign ministry data, the Indian government evacuated around 4,000 Indians in the last month, but around 16,000 still remain trapped.
On Tuesday, the Indian embassy in Ukraine had issued an advisory asking all Indian citizens, including students to leave Kyiv urgently. Many students trapped in Ukraine have criticised the government’s rescue efforts and have released a number of videos on social media highlighting their circumstances.
As per some reports, some Indian students have been prevented from crossing into neighbouring countries, with border guards reportedly refusing to let them pass and beating them up.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the government for not coming up with a strategic plan for the safe evacuation of the Indian students stranded in Ukraine. Every minute is precious, Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
