Ukraine extends condolences to Indian student killed in Kharkiv shelling

United Nations: Ukraine on Wednesday expressed its sympathies over the death of an Indian student amid shelling in Kharkiv, war-torn Ukraine's second-biggest city on Tuesday, IANS reported.

Ukraine's Permanent Representative to UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said at the General Assembly Emergency Session, "Ukraine regrets that a student from India became an example of this challenge by the Russian armed forces and we offer our deepest sympathies to India and the relatives of the student.

Ukrainian Ambassador to India Dr Igor Polikha on March 1 paid homage to those who lost their lives in the Russia-Ukraine war by lighting candles outside the Ukraine Embassy in Delhi.

"I extend my deepest condolences on the death of Indian student Naveen Shekharappa who was killed in shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Earlier shelling and bombings happened on military sites but now also happening in the civil areas," said Dr Igor Polikha.

Meanwhile, Russian ambassador-designate Denis Alipov said on Wednesday that the country is putting in place "humanitarian corridors" for safe evacuation of Indians stranded in conflict zones in eastern Ukraine and will conduct an investigation into the death of an Indian student in Kharkiv.

Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, a 21-year-old student from Karnataka at the Kharkiv National Medical University, was killed on Tuesday.

There were an estimated 18,000 Indian students in Ukraine and some have gone to Hungary, Poland, Romania and Moldova.

Several thousand Indian citizens have been evacuated from those countries to India under "Operation Ganga" launched by the Indian government.

Russia's Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenza, however, denied that Russian forces were shelling civilian areas.

Belarus' Permanent Representative alleged that 100 Indian students who tried to enter Poland were beaten by that country's security forces and sent back.