India has released six Ukrainians and an American held for allegedly training insurgents in Myanmar and allowed them to return to their countries.
India’s counterterrorism agency arrested the Ukrainians and US filmmaker Matthew VanDyke during a series of raids at three airports on 13 March, in a rare high-profile case involving foreigners charged with serious offences.
Ukrainians Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, and Ivan Sukmanovskyi were arrested at Lucknow airport in the state of Uttar Pradesh, while Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk, and Viktor Kaminskyi were held at the capital Delhi’s airport.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) accused the foreigners of illegally entering an eastern state bordering Myanmar without the required permits and thereafter crossing into the neighbouring nation to train ethnic militias in drone warfare, exposing a network stretching across conflict zones.
On Thursday, a Delhi court gave them bail and allowed them to travel to their home countries for a month, rather than six weeks as they had requested.
The series of swift developments that led up to the release of the foreigners and the dramatic twists that saw the allegations against them go from terrorism to immigration offences, immediately raised questions.
The NIA had initially booked the foreign nationals under the stringent anti-terrorism law.
But the case took a major turn when the agency did not cite anti-terrorism and anti-secession legislation against them in the chargesheet, citing a lack of evidence to suggest that their acts affected India’s national interest or its people.
#WATCH | Delhi: Myanmar Training Camp case | Two foreign nationals from Ukraine and the US were released from Tihar Jail.
— ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2026
The special NIA court at Rouse Avenue has granted permission to US National Matthew Aaron Vandyke and 6 Ukrainian nationals to travel to the USA and Ukraine… pic.twitter.com/D7BVx2faKC
The family of the American filmmaker had expressed concern over his arrest and appealed to the US government to ensure his rights were protected.
Mr VanDyke’s family and legal representatives claimed he had at times been unable to walk and had required a wheelchair.
“This is a humanitarian emergency for our family,” his mother told The Independent earlier. “Matthew has spent his life documenting human suffering and supporting people in crisis. We’re pleading for his safe return home.”
The bail came days after the NIA told the court it had “credible information” about the involvement of the foreigners in an attack on a civilian aircraft in Myanmar.
The agency alleged that the Ukrainians, along with the American, were involved in a drone attack on a passenger aircraft at the Myitkyina airport in Kachin state on 20 February. The plane was preparing to take off for Mandalay when it was hit by a suicide drone, resulting in structural damage but no injuries.
The NIA said the Ukrainians had entered India on tourist visas and flown to the northeastern city of Guwahati before travelling to the border state of Mizoram without the requisite permits.
From there, they went into Myanmar “illegally to conduct a pre-scheduled training on drone warfare, drone operations, assembly and jamming” for ethnic armed groups targeting the military junta.
Even as it dropped the most serious charges against the foreigners, the NIA said that its investigation into possible offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, which makes bail for the accused exceptionally difficult, was still ongoing.
Mr VanDyke, originally from Maryland, is known for covering conflict zones as a filmmaker. One of his works, Point and Shoot, won the best documentary award at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014.
He first came to prominence during the Libyan Civil War, when he joined rebel forces fighting Muammar Gaddafi’s government.
He was injured in an ambush, detained, and spent almost five months in solitary confinement across prisons in Sirte and Tripoli before escaping during the fall of Tripoli. He rejoined the rebel forces and took part in combat operations, including in Sirte.
Following his release, he founded an organisation called Sons of Liberty International, known for providing military training and strategic advice to local armed groups in conflict zones around the world.
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