New Delhi: Russia will investigate the death of the 21-year-old Indian medical student in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Russian Ambassador-designate Denis Alipov has said. Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, a fourth-year medical student at the Kharkiv National Medical University, was killed during intense shelling the east Ukraine city, when he went out to get food.
According to Naveen’s friends, he had gone to get groceries and was standing in queue outside a shop when he was hit. Eyewitnesses have said that the Russians blew up a nearby government building.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had said the circumstances of his death are not absolutely clear.
“I want to express our sympathy to the family of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar and to the entire Indian nation over the tragedy,” Mr Alipov was quoted as saying at a media briefing by news agency Press Trust of India.
“Russia will do everything it possibly can to ensure the safety of Indian citizens in the areas of intense conflict… and a proper investigation of this unfortunate incident,” he added.
There have been more than 300 civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded the country on February 24 after months of tension over Ukraine’s proximity to NATO.
