Russia on Wednesday said its military was doing everything possible to ensure the safe removal of Indians from the “war zone” but claimed that the Ukrainians were holding a group of Indian students hostage to use them as human shield.

This information was provided by President Vladimir Putin to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a phone conversation — their second in less than a week — on Wednesday evening.

The Indian government on Thursday denied reports of Indian students being held as "hostages" in Ukraine, stating that it was in constant touch with Indian nationals in the war-torn country., reports ndtv.com

Soon after, the Ukraine foreign ministry claimed that the Russians had taken hostage students from India, Pakistan, China and other countries.

Putin’s claim of instructing his military to ensure “urgent evacuation of a group of Indian students from Kharkov (Kharkiv) through the humanitarian corridor along the shortest route to Russia” was mentioned in the Kremlin readout of the conversation.

“At the same time, according to the latest information, these students are actually taken hostage by the Ukrainian security forces, who use them as a human shield and in every possible way prevent them from leaving for Russia. Responsibility in this case lies entirely with the Kiev (Kyiv) authorities,” the Kremlin readout said.

But the Ukraine foreign ministry tweeted: “We urgently call on the governments of India, Pakistan, China and other countries, whose students have become hostages of the Russian armed aggression in Kharkiv and Sumy, to demand from Moscow that it allows the opening of a humanitarian corridor to other Ukrainian cities.”

According to the Indian readout of the conversation between Modi and Putin, they reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck. “They discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas.”

The conversation took place some hours after Indians stranded in the east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv were asked to leave and proceed towards three areas identified by the Russians within four hours — even on foot if necessary.

The advice indicated a level of coordination between New Delhi and Moscow over the evacuation from the main conflict zone.

“We have been told that these areas are safe. We have issued this advisory based on inputs that the Russian side has given. We haven’t chosen these locations, we haven’t chosen the time,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters.

At the same time, he did not get into the specifics of whether these inputs provided by Russia were tantamount to Moscow providing safe passage to Indians or an indication of a bigger assault on Kharkiv.

In the morning, Russian ambassador-designate Denis Alipov told reporters that Moscow was “intensely’’ considering creating a humanitarian corridor to provide safe passage to Indians stranded in Kharkiv, Sumy and other parts of the main conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.

A couple of hours later, the Indian embassy in Ukraine issued the urgent advisory to all Indians in Kharkiv to leave immediately in light of the deteriorating situation. The largest number of Indians in Ukraine is now said to be in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.

“They should proceed to Pesochin, Babaye and Bezlyudivka as soon as possible for their own safety. Under all circumstances, they must reach these settlements by 1800 hrs (Ukrainian time) today,” the embassy’s advisory said.

Bagchi added a few hours later: “We would urge all our nationals to leave Kharkiv immediately to the safe zones or further westwards using any means available, including on foot, and keeping safety in mind.”

Pesochin, Babaye and Bezlyudivka are urban settlements in Kharkiv Oblast (province) which borders Russia to the north and the Donbass region -– which Moscow recognised as independent last week -– to the east. A team from the Indian diplomatic mission in Russia is positioned in Belgorod near the Russian side of the border, foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had said on Tuesday night.

“The function of the team is to examine all the options in terms of, you know… accommodation for our people, the transportation options. Essentially, this team is in place and ready to see whatever we can do to extract our students and citizens from the Kharkiv, Sumy area,” Shringla had said, describing it as contingency planning.

While trouble spots remain and students have been complaining of Ukrainians not allowing them to board trains besides running out of money and provisions, Bagchi said there has been a sharp increase in the number of Indians who have left the country in the past 24 hours. In all, 17,000 Indians are estimated to have left Ukraine and those yet to be evacuated to India are in facilities set up in the bordering countries.

The number of flights under Operation Ganga has increased with six flights landing in India over the past 24 hours, taking the total number of evacuation flights since the bombing began last Thursday to 15 with 3,352 Indians. Fifteen flights, including those of the Indian Air Force, have been scheduled over the next 24 hours and some are already en route.

The ministry has also put in place a mechanism for issuing emergency certificates to those who have lost their Indian passports. While some have lost their documents in the chaos of the past week, a few students have complained that their agents are not returning their documents to them.

With no Indians left in Kyiv since Tuesday after a renewed attack on the capital this week, a temporary mission has been set up in Lviv near Ukraine’s border with Poland to facilitate border crossings. Efforts are on to move another team of the mission to eastern Ukraine to assist the evacuation of citizens from there. “We are seeing if the teams can reach there. Not easy as the route is not open all the time,” Bagchi said.

As for the humanitarian assistance that Ukraine had sought, the first tranche of two tonnes of medicines was sent on Tuesday through Poland. Three more tranches – 16 tonnes each of medical equipment, tents, blankets, solar lamps and other requirements – are being sent by IAF and commercial flights.