Stranded Indian girl students waiting to leave Kharkiv are on their way to Ukraine’s western border by train and efforts are being made to evacuate the boys with the help of Russians, government sources told NDTV today, shortly before the 6 pm evacuation deadline was set to expire. Kharkiv, sources said, is now virtually under Russian control.

“A lot of background negotiations with Russians have been going on. Now they, in fact, are helping us in evacuation,” a senior government official told NDTV, amid tension back home over the evacuation.

“The Russians have avoided the areas we had asked them not to target… We are tying up with the Russians for safe passage of our students,” he added.

Over a thousand students had been stranded at the Kharkiv station amid heavy shelling of the city since morning. They said they were not being allowed to board the trains and those who managed, were forced to get off.  

Some said they were beaten and kicked and sent urgent appeals for help to the authorities.