India, Dec. 18 -- Twenty-six Indian nationals were killed while serving in the Russian armed forces and seven have been reported missing, the government informed Parliament on Thursday.

The figure for the dead - provided in a written answer by minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh in Rajya Sabha - is far higher than the number acknowledged by the external affairs ministry in the past. Officials earlier said that 12 Indians were killed while fighting on the frontlines in Russia's conflict with Ukraine.

The minister's reply, in response to a question from Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale and Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala, came shortly after media reports said the bodies of two Indians killed while serving wit...