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Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Pakistan embassy helps 35 Pakistani students stranded in Ukraine

The Embassy of Pakistan Ukraine has managed to evacuate 35 Pakistani students to Poland. They have reached the camp on the Polish side of the border. The Embassy of Pakistan Poland is making arrangements for their transportation to Warsaw.

According to a message from one of the students, some of their classmates were able to board a train going for Poland from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in the northeast, which was transporting people fleeing the Russian invasion.

In the city, there are around 300 Pakistani students. Another large concentration of Pakistani students is stationed in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

Since the Russian invasion began on Thursday, almost 1,500 Pakistanis, including 500 students, have been stuck in Ukraine, according to news sources.

Read more: Is Belarus going to be the next target in Russian-Ukraine war?

Some had already fled the country

The embassy, in a Twitter posting, said it had facilitated the evacuation of those students and was making arrangements for their further transportation to Warsaw.

The Foreign Office said another group of 35-40 students was on the way to Ternopil from Kharkiv and expected to reach there by Saturday afternoon.

At a press conference, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the embassy had been temporarily relocated from Kyiv to Ternopil near the Polish border to ease evacuations. All Pakistanis in Ukraine, he claimed, were safe.

The pupils have been advised by the embassy to travel to Ternopil. Students, on the other hand, expressed concern on social media about how they could travel hundreds of kilometers without transportation and in a dangerous security situation. They also complained about having trouble getting in touch with the embassy.

Arrangements are being made for the safe return of Pakistanis

Pakistani missions in Poland, Romania and Hungary have, meanwhile, been told by the Foreign Office to assist the Pakistanis coming out of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, PIA chief retired Air Marshal Arshad Malik on Friday called Pakistan’s Ambassador in Ukraine retired Maj Gen Noel Khokhar and discussed with the latter different options to evacuate Pakistani students stranded there.

Read more: Pakistan Embassy in Ukraine asks students to reach Ternopil

According to a statement, the PIA chief said arrangements had been made to bring back the students. He said all the students would gather in Ternopil and reach Poland via a land route from where they would be brought to Pakistan through special flight operations.

Earlier, in a tweet, the PIA chief said that currently, Ukraine’s airspace was closed, but various options were being worked out for the safe evacuation of the Pakistani students.