India has mounted a massive rescue operation named ‘Operation Ganga’ to bring back Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine. Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a startling claim that over 3,000 Indian citizens were “taken hostage by the Ukrainian security forces” at the Kharkiv train station in eastern Ukraine by the Ukrainian military. Notably, Putin made the remarks after India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the claims by both Moscow and Kyiv that Indian students are being held hostage in Kharkiv.Prior to MEA’s statement, Putin’s office claimed that some Indian students were “actually taken hostage” by Ukrainian security forces and were using them as “human shields” against Russian forces.Importantly, the same was mentioned by Kremlin following a telephonic conversation between President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 2 evening.India has launched Operation Ganga to bring back its citizens from Ukraine. The country has deployed speacil flights, including military aircraft to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries such as Romania, Hungary and Poland.Related NewsRussia-Ukraine conflict: PM Modi speaks to Vladimir Putin, discusses safe evacuation of Indians from conflict areasPM Modi underlines Quad must remain focused on promoting peace, prosperity in Indo-Pacific regionThe Modi government has sent four Union Ministers – Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) VK Singh to countries adjoining Ukraine to support and supervise these evacuation operations.The evacuation process, which began on February 22, has brought back over 6200 persons so far.Russia Ukraine Crisis | Moscow Makes Big Claims, Says ‘Ukraine Is Holding Indians Hostage’ | World NewsRelated NewsRussia-Ukraine Crisis: India continues to step up evacuation efforts to bring back stranded Indians, says MEA