An Indian student has been killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine's Kharkiv region on Tuesday, India's Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed. The victim has been identified as Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, 21, who hails from Karnataka, a state in southwest India with Arabian Sea coastlines.
"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," tweeted Arindam Bagchi, official spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs in India.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video posted on his Facebook page had also shared that Russian troops shelled Kharkiv using rocket artillery. Six people, including a child, were reportedly injured in the same shelling of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration building Tuesday morning.
As per reports, the young student was trying reach the railway station from his apartment when he became a victim of the deadly missile attack. Reports say the student left his home to get food from a supermarket when he got killed in the war-torn city in Northeast Ukraine.
"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. Similar action is also being undertaken by our Ambassadors in Russia and Ukraine," said Arindam Bagchi in another Twitter post on Tuesday.
Bagchi also said that India held a high level meeting to review the ongoing efforts under #OperationGanga to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine. "PM said that the entire government machinery is working round the clock to ensure that all Indians there are safe & secure," his tweet read.
Meanwhile, reports say that around 4,000 students are still stranded in Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, which has witnessed deadly Russian airstrikes on Tuesday.
