MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Militants of Ukrainian nationalist battalions continue holding about 5,000 foreigners hostage, Head of Russia’s National Defense Control Center Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Saturday.
"Militants of the nationalist battalions continue holding hostage about 5,000 foreigners as a human shield," the general said.
In particular, up to 1,500 students from India, up to 200 citizens of Jordan, 40 Egyptian nationals and 15 citizens of Vietnam are being held hostage in Kharkov. In Sumy, there are 576 citizens of India, 159 citizens of Tanzania, 121 citizens of China, 100 students from Ghana, 60 Egyptian nationals, 45 citizens of Jordan, 16 students from Pakistan, 15 citizens of Tunisia and 14 citizens of Zambia, he specified.
"The Ukrainian side has responded with a refusal up to now to our proposals to open humanitarian corridors in Kharkov and Sumy," he said.
In Sumy, nationalists beat a group of students from Pakistan, Mizintsev said. "In the city of Sumy, a group of up to 20 students from Pakistan was beaten by nationalists of territorial defense battalions upon their attempt to approach the Sudzha checkpoint and returned to the dormitory," the general said.
There have also been increasingly frequent cases of discrimination on racial grounds in Ukraine. In particular, nationalist activists are impeding the evacuation of foreigners, he said. "Especially those with the dark color of their skin and also citizens of India, Israel, Indonesia, Pakistan and Egypt," Mizintsev said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories and the operation was aimed at demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine.
When clarifying the developments unfolding, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.