NEW DELHI: An Indian student was killed on Tuesday in shelling in Ukraine, New Delhi said, as it urged Moscow and Kyiv to secure safe passage for around 12,000 of its stranded nationals.
"With profound sorrow we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning," Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter.
He added that the foreign secretary -- the ministry's top civil servant -- was "calling in the Russian and Ukrainian ambassadors to reiterate our demand for urgent safe passage for Indian nationals who are still in Kharkiv and cities in other conflict zones."
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, has been a target for Russian forces since President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of the eastern European country last week.
On Tuesday, the central square of the city near the Russian border was shelled by advancing forces who hit the building of the local administration, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the shelling as a "war crime", adding in a video statement: "This is state terrorism on the part of Russia."
But Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla did not criticise Russia.
Naming the student as Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, he told reporters: "From what we understand from his friends, he had come out to buy some groceries, he was at a shop in a line when he was hit, I don't know how.
"The circumstances are not absolutely clear," he added. "It is a conflict zone and it's a very unfortunate situation."
In the southern Indian state of Karnataka, the student's father pleaded to Indian authorities and representatives in Ukraine: "Bring back my son's dead body."
Before Russia's invasion, there were around 20,000 Indians in Ukraine. Around 8,000 have since managed to leave the country, of whom some 1,400 have been flown back to India, according to officials.
According to Indian media, some Indian students are being prevented from crossing into neighbouring countries, with border guards reportedly refusing to let them pass and demanding money.
Aruj Raj, a student in Kharkiv, told the Hindustan Times that he had been in a hostel bunker with 400 other Indian students since Thursday.
"There is so much bombing happening outside," he said. "We can see street fighting through our windows.
"The city is still under curfew. It is impossible for us to step outside. We hardly have anything left to eat or drink."
New Delhi has long walked a tightrope in its relations with Moscow and the West, while getting most of its arms from Russia. Last week it abstained in a vote on the UN Security Council resolution deploring Russia's "aggression".