Nigeria will on Monday begin the evacuation of her students stuck in Sumy, Ukraine, Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, tweeted Sunday evening.
The announcement came hours after PREMIUM TIMES reported the horrific situation the over 300 Nigerian students in Sumy were in.
“Deep gratitude to @DmytroKuleba, Foreign Minister of Ukraine for approval given, as promised, to establish a humanitarian corridor and authorize evacuation of Nigerian students from Sumy starting tomorrow,” Mr Onyeama tweeted.
However, Mr Onyeama noted that a major challenge to the evacuation is how to transport the students out of Sumy.
“The big challenge is procuring buses. We are doing everything to make it happen. Great commitment by Nigerian Ambassador to Ukraine, Shina Alege.”
Over 300 Nigerian students are said to be stuck in the North-Eastern city, where they have been largely cut off from the rest of the country owing to the shellings by Russia.
The bombings have left part of the city without electricity and water. Both foreigners and Ukrainians are caught in the crossfire; making underground bunkers their homes until they can safely move out.
There were high hopes that civilians could safely move out of the affected area when Russia and Ukraine agreed to create a safe corridor to evacuate civilians on Saturday but that hope has crumbled as both sides accused each other of violating a ceasefire.
PREMIUM TIMES reported some of the students narrating how they survived multiple bombings by Russia.
This newspaper also reported the arrival of four batches of Nigerian evacuees from Ukraine on Friday and Sunday. They were airlifted from Romania, Poland and Hungary, where they fled to when the war in Ukraine started.
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