Indian police arrested six Ukrainian nationals and one U.S. citizen on the night of March 13, detaining them at three separate airports, according to a court order that placed the seven in custody pending a hearing on March 27.
The remand order, issued on Monday, sets out the allegations against the group. Authorities say the accused travelled illegally to the northeastern state of Mizoram - a restricted-access region for foreign nationals that borders Myanmar's Chin State - crossed the frontier into Myanmar, and conducted training for anti-junta ethnic armed groups in the use of drones for warfare. The court document also alleges the individuals were involved in the unlawful importation of large consignments of drones from Europe to Myanmar via India.
Mizoram abuts Myanmar's Chin State, and the court order notes that Myanmar has been engulfed in a civil war and humanitarian crisis since the military deposed the elected government in a 2021 coup. The investigation into the detained individuals is being led by India's National Investigation Agency, the country's principal counter-terrorism body.
Ukraine's foreign ministry issued a statement late on Tuesday denying that there are established facts proving the involvement of the Ukrainian citizens in unlawful activities on Indian or Myanmar territory. The Ukrainian ambassador in New Delhi handed a formal note of protest to Sibi George, a senior official at India's foreign ministry, requesting the immediate release of the Ukrainian nationals and access to them. A spokesperson at the Ukrainian embassy in New Delhi confirmed the meeting took place on Monday.
The embassy statement highlighted the existence of restricted-access zones in India for foreign nationals - entry to which requires special permits - and said that inadequate on-the-ground marking of such areas can create a risk of unintentional violations of regulations.
A U.S. embassy spokesperson said the embassy was aware of the situation but declined further comment, citing privacy considerations in matters involving U.S. citizens. India's foreign ministry and a Myanmar government spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
The Delhi court order did not identify the Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups the detained individuals allegedly met. It cited an investigative update indicating the accused were suspected of providing support to "proscribed Indian insurgent groups by way of supplying weapons and other terrorist hardware and training them, thus affecting national security and interests of India."
Indian officials have said that militant groups which had taken refuge in Myanmar and been involved in that country's civil war returned to India in 2024, contributing to a months-long, deadly ethnic conflict in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. India maintains a requirement that foreigners obtain special entry permits for certain northeastern border states with histories of ethnic tension and security volatility.
As the legal process moves toward the March 27 hearing, diplomatic and security questions remain unresolved. Ukrainian officials have formally contested the charges and requested consular access, while Indian investigators continue to develop the case under the National Investigation Agency's remit. The available court record and official statements leave some details — such as the identities of the Myanmar-based groups alleged to have received training and the precise nature of the drone shipments cited in the order — unconfirmed in public filings.