Over 3,000 Indian Students Were Taken Hostage In Ukraine: Putin.

Russia's President Putin said Thursday that over 3,000 Indian citizens are being held at the Kharkiv train station by the Ukrainian military. Hours after, India said no reports of any hostage situation had reached it.

New Delhi officials viewed this as a difficult situation in a conflict zone where citizens are hunkered down in bunkers and underground shelters. Movement is restricted due to the curfew-like situation on the streets.

Shortly after Putin's remarks, the Associated Press quoted Ukrainian and Russian officials saying they reached a tentative agreement to arrange for safe corridors to evacuate civilians and deliver humanitarian supplies.

On Wednesday night too, the Kremlin had spoken of Indians being kept hostage in its readout of the phone conversation between PM Modi and Putin.

In Moscow Thursday night, Putin, speaking in Russian, said, "Thousands of young people, students who were studying in Ukraine's colleges were kept for more than one day… more than 3,000 Indian citizens at the train station in Kharkiv. And they continue keeping them there, including 576 people in the city of Sumy."

He said "neo-Nazis opened fire on Chinese students who wanted to leave Kharkiv, and two of them were wounded".

Earlier in the day, in response to media queries regarding reports of Indian students being held hostage in Ukraine, Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, 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 left Kharkiv yesterday. We have not received any reports of any hostage situation regarding any student."

On Thursday, the Indian embassy in Ukraine advised all Indian nationals in Kharkiv to fill an online form on an urgent basis as the Russian onslaught on the city continued.