- By Shubham Bajpai
- Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:15 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested six Ukrainian nationals and an American citizen for illegally entering Myanmar using Indian territory and contacting ethnic war groups. On Monday, a Delhi court sent all of them to 11-day police custody.
According to NIA, three Ukrainian nationals were arrested from Lucknow, three from Delhi and an American national from Kolkata.
The court observed that these aspects "definitely affect national security and interests of India," and hence cannot be treated as routine in nature.
The accused have been identified as Matthew Aaron Van Dyke, Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor.
They were in direct contact with terrorists and even abetted them. Some of these ethic armed organisations are banned in India.
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The group illegally entered restricted areas of Mizoram, and from there, they entered Myanmar. From India, they bought a huge consignment of drones from Europe.
The group reportedly intended to train the organisations having links with insurgent groups in India.
Both the United States and Ukraine have reacted to the arrests. The US embassy in India said that they were aware of the situation but avoided comments, citing privacy reasons.
The Ukrainian diplomatic mission has said that it remains in contact with the families of the detained Ukrainian citizens and is keeping the situation under special control.
American national known for aligning with rebels across world
According to a report by The Guardian, American national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke is an adventurer-turned-filmmaker. He has been embedding himself in conflict zones and often aligns with rebel movements.
In 2011, he fought alongside anti-Gaddafi rebels and was arrested during the conflict. Six months later, he fled the prison after the regime collapsed.
He also surfaced during the uprising in Aleppo. Although he said that he was filming a documentary, he later admitted that he advised rebellions on weaponry.