Karnataka’s 21-yr-old Naveen Gyanagoudar Is India’s First Casualty In Russia-Ukraine War

India lost one citizen, 21-yr-old Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. An outraged GOI summoned the Ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday to "reiterate our demand for urgent safe passage for Indian nationals who are still in Kharkiv and other cities in the conflict zone." Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, also informed that a similar action was also undertaken by India's Ambassadors in these two countries. Naveen belonged to the Chalangeri village in Karnataka and he had queued up to buy food in a Kharkiv supermarket, when Russian shelling took his life. The deceased was a fourth-year medical student of the Kharkiv National Medical University. The tragedy has left Naveen's family in shock in Karnataka especially because the MEA has been unable to assure them that their son's body would be brought back home. As of now, Naveen's corpse is lying somewhere in a Kharkiv morgue. Offering his condolences to Naveen's father, Shekargouda, Karnataka's Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, "This is a tragedy. We are coordinating with MEA officials. We are making all efforts to bring back his body. You need to be brave." In a tweet on Tuesday, MEA's official Twitter handle wrote, "With profound sorrow, we confirm that an Indian student lost his life in shelling in Kharkiv this morning. The Ministry is in touch with his family. We convey our deepest condolences to the family." Khariv is the second-largest city of Ukraine and it lies on the eastern side, away from the rescue efforts, which are currently focused on the western borders of Ukraine. As per students, there are still at least 3,000 Indian students stuck in Kharkiv even as their supplies are running out. Students claim that they have had to pay exorbitant amounts to make travel arrangements themselves. What has made the matters worse is that the Ukrainian territory has received fresh Russian airstrikes on Tuesday, marked by a massive explosion near the Governor House – a Soviet-era administrative building on Kharkiv's central square. Meanwhile, India advised its citizens in Kyiv to leave "urgently."