New Delhi, Mar 1 : Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday called in the Ambassadors of Ukraine and Russia to stress India’s demand for safe passage for its nationals after the killing of an Indian student in shelling in Kharkiv earlier in the day. “I called in the Ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine earlier today, and reiterated strongly our demand for urgent safe passage for all Indian nationals in Kharkiv and other cities in conflict areas,” the Foreign Secretary said in a special late evening briefing. He said India has reiterated its demand not just in Delhi but also in Moscow and Kyiv, both at the diplomatic level and to the military authorities of both countries. Asked what assurance the two ambassadors had given of providing safe passage to Indians, the Foreign Secretary said that “It is a fluid situation. We have strongly and emphatically asked them to create the safe passage, but there is a war going on, and we will have to make the best of a situation, that we can find a way. I think that our interlocutors, both in Russia and Ukraine, understand that, and we will try and continue to press them to enable us to withdraw and evacuate our citizens.” He said the two ambassadors were earlier too made cognizant of India’s concerns regarding safe passage. The Foreign Secretary said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a CCS meeting on Ukraine in the evening. The meeting began with an expression of deep regret and condolences on the death of Indian national Naveen Gyanagoudar, who died earlier today in shelling in Kharkiv. He said the PM conveyed deep anguish at the death of the Indian national. Shringla said that the Prime Minister spoke to the President of Poland Andrzej Duda in the evening, and also received a call from French President Emmanuel Macron and President of the European Union Commission Charles Michel. On Monday, the PM had spoken to his counterparts from Slovakia, Eduard Heger, and Romania, Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă, to seek their assistance in continued support in evacuation efforts. His call to the Polish President on Tuesday evening was on similar lines, the Foreign Secretary said. “We are certainly reaching out diplomatically to all concerned to ensure the safety and security and protection of our citizens in Ukraine,” he added. “I think we have examined every possible option, the safe passage that we are seeking is very, very important, and was emphasized to both the Russian and Ukrainian ambassadors, the importance of providing this corridor, this option to enable our citizens to leave Kharkiv and Sumy; and I think the ambassadors recognized the necessity of getting our citizens out of this conflict zone, and we will be in touch with them in this regard,” he added. He said that every effort is being made to ensure that Indian citizens can come out as speedily and with minimum inconvenience. On the death of Naveen Gyanagoudar, the Foreign Secretary said he was a fourth year medical student at the National Kharkiv Medical University. “He had, from what we understand from his friends, he had come out to buy some groceries, he was at a shop and a line, when he was hit, we don’t know how; the circumstances is not absolutely clear. But, obviously there is a fair amount of.., it is a conflict zone, and it’s a very unfortunate situation,” he said. The body has been taken to the morgue in the university and has been identified, he added. “We did speak to his parents in Karnataka and conveyed our deepest condolences and we will bring back his body, we are in touch with the local authorities in that regard,” he added. (UNI)