Large number of Pakistanis evacuated from war-hit Ukraine

The Pakistan Embassy in Ukraine has safely evacuated a large number of stranded Pakistani students and nationals despite the difficult situation following Russian forces’ attacks on key cities of the country.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Ukraine Dr Noel Israel Khokhar, in a voice message on his Twitter handle, said that there were about 3,000 students in Ukraine and the bulk of them had been safely evacuated.

He said some 500 to 600 were left in the war-hit country and the embassy was in the process to safely evacuate them. The ambassador said that they were making hectic efforts despite ordeals and difficulties in Ukraine.

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“All Pakistanis are safe and we are trying to guide them under the difficult situation,” Khokhar said, citing closure of flights, banking systems and non-availability of transport and fuel.

Despite all these difficulties, he said they had evacuated bulk of the students and would be able to evacuate the remaining few ones. “We are in close contacts with the students,” he added.

Sharing the latest details, the ambassador said a total of 62 people including 21 family members of the embassy staff had already been evacuated whereas 59 people were on the Ukraine-Poland border crossing.

He said that another 79 people including 67 students and 12 family members of embassy staff were on their way to Ukraine-Poland border. A batch of 104 students from Kharkiv was arriving via train while 20 other students were being evacuated from Kyiv on a bus arranged by the embassy.

Separately, the Pakistan Embassy in Bucharest, Romania has established an additional hotline in addition to embassy’s already existing one which is being manned round-the-clock.

According to Radio Pakistan, detailed information and guidance regarding border crossing points and visas are shared on social media.

"Individuals were also guided separately. A cell headed by DHM and supervised by HOM for coordination with the Romanian side had been set up for facilitation of entrants mainly upon entering at Siret," it added.

In coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, arrangements were in place for the immediate issuance of visas, further onward transit and medical assistance, while accommodation arrangements had also been made in the capital.

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Facilitation is being provided for further transit of those Pakistanis who intended to leave for Pakistan or any other destination of their liking.

So far, four Pakistanis, who had lodged in Bucharest, were evacuated whereas another 16 Pakistanis were expected to be evacuated today.

A team of Embassy of Pakistan in Budapest, Hungary, left for Zahony border to receive 15 Pakistani students and the related arrangements were made for their reception, transport, stay in Budapest and onward travel to Pakistan.

The embassy was in contact with three other groups having three, seven and four members who had indicated the possibility of reaching on Monday.

According to earlier details, the Embassy of Pakistan in Ukraine had received 23 more Pakistani students at Lviv facilitation desk, arriving from different cities of Ukraine including Kyiv. They were set to be transferred to the Polish border through transportation arranged by the embassy.

The embassy had managed to evacuate 70 students from Kharkiv city which is one of the main battlegrounds of Ukrainian and Russian forces.

The embassy was also evacuating 12 family members of the embassy staff. They were now being transported to the Ukraine-Romania border and the embassy of Pakistan in Romania was providing all facilitation on their side of the border, it was added.

(With additional input from APP and Radio Pakistan)