Karnataka student Naveen Shekarappa killed in Ukraine's Kharkiv

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 1

An Indian student from Karnataka was killed by shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday even as Russian forces began laying siege to the major cities and started attacking Kyiv with the Russian Defence Ministry asking all citizens to leave immediately.

Also read: Kin: Naveen was killed when he stepped out to fetch food

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The victim was identified as Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, a native of Chalageri in Haveri district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai spoke to Naveen’s father Shekhar Gowda and expressed condolences at the loss. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called in the Ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine “to reiterate the demand for urgent safe passage for Indian nationals who were still in Kharkiv and cities in other conflict zones’’. The Indian Embassy in Kyiv assured that an Indian team had reached the closest Russian town to Kharkiv and would begin evacuation once there was a lull in fighting.

Naveen was a fourth year MBBS student at the Kharkiv medical college and, according to his uncle, had stepped out to exchange currency and buy provisions when he was hit by a shell.

Thousands of foreigners, including over 6,000 Indians, mainly medical students, still remain trapped in Kharkiv and other major Ukrainian cities. Condolences came in from all around, including the European Council president who called up PM Modi.

PM Modi also decided to deploy IAF transporters to ensure more people could be evacuated in a shorter time frame as well as deliver humanitarian aid. The IAF is likely to deploy several C-17 aircraft as part of Operation Ganga.

Earlier in the day, with a 40-km Russian military column approaching Kyiv, the Indian Embassy asked all Indians to leave the city urgently by any means available. The Russian Defence Ministry asked all civilians to abandon Kyiv as it would be hit by high-precision weapons.

Russian strikes were reportedly targeting Ukrainian military facilities, but there were credible accounts of residential buildings, critical civilian infrastructure and other non-military targets sustaining heavy damage, said UN Secretary General António Guterres while calling the escalation, resulting in civilian deaths, as “totally unacceptable”.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed allegations of Russian strikes on civilian targets and accused the Ukrainian nationalist groups of using people as human shields.

The European Parliament approved Ukraine’s application to join the EU even as led by the United Nations, there were several announcements of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The sanctions’ noose around Russia continued to tighten while Moscow and other cities saw long queues of people outside banks and metro stations as Google Pay and other fintech applications stopped working. Russia and Ukraine also agreed to a second round of meeting on Wednesday.

European Council Prez speaks to PM

New Delhi: European Council President Charles Michel spoke to PM Modi and conveyed his condolences over the death of an Indian student in Kharkiv. The US and French envoys in Delhi also condoled the death. — TNS

2nd round of talks

• Second round of Russia-Ukraine talks are slated for Wednesday
• 40-km-long Russian military column approaching Kyiv, as per satellite images

India sends first tranche of aid to war-hit ukraine

Fighting intensifies

• Russia asked all civilians to abandon Kyiv, saying it would be hit by high-precision weapons
• UN chief said Russia hittting civilian targets; Moscow denies