Indian Student Shot in Kyiv, Hospitalised

Union Minister VK Singh told ANI on Friday that days after an Indian student died in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, another had been hospitalised after being shot in Kyiv.

"A student from Kyiv was reported to have been shot and was promptly admitted to the hospital in Kyiv," said General VK Singh, Minister of State for Civil Aviation.

The Indian embassy in Kyiv has already recommended Indians in Ukraine to leave the war-torn country, according to the minister. "The pistol bullet does not look at anyone's religion or nationality in the case of conflict," he continued.

VK Singh was one of four Union ministers who came to Eastern Europe earlier this week to supervise the Ukrainian evacuation exercise.

The other three "special envoys" are Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Kiren Rijiju, who are currently in Ukraine's neighbouring countries to arrange the evacuation of Indian nationals still trapped in the war-torn country.

A medical student from Karnataka's Haveri district was murdered amid fierce shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, becoming the first Indian fatality of the war in Ukraine.

Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, a fourth-year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University, was one of the victims.

Following the incident, India requested that both Russia and Ukraine's envoys facilitate "immediate safe transit" for Indian citizens who remained in Kharkiv and other combat zones. On Thursday, the Indian embassy issued urgent instructions to citizens to leave Kharkiv and travel to one of three designated safe zones.