Government says it has so far evacuated some 460 stranded Ghanaians from Ukraine to neighboring countries as efforts have been intensified to get Ghanaians caught up in conflict to safety.
According to government, it is committed to the safe evacuation of stranded Ghanaians as it has dispatched officials from Ghanaian missions in Europe to various Ukrainian borders to help Ghanaian’s cross into neighboring countries.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, who addressed a government press conference in Accra yesterday said government with the assistance of some European countries bordering Ukraine have evacuated a number of Ghanaians to safe zones with several others being processed for evacuation.
She said “as at 12:00 hrs GMT today (27th February), information gathered was that about over four hundred and sixty (460) students have left Ukraine enroute to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Czech Republic. The students will be received by officials of our Diplomatic Missions, honorary consuls and officials of the Ghana students’ associations.”
Mrs. Botchway said aside the 460 Ghanaian students who have left Ukraine for Poland, 24 have already arrived in Bucharest, Romanian and are being assisted by Ghanaian officials on the ground with plane tickets to Accra whiles 48 are being processed at a holding area with another 60 going through border formalities.
She also disclosed that an additional 38 Ghanaians have been aided to cross the Ukrainian border into Poland and will be processed to come to Ghana indicating that another batch of 85 of Ghanaians are being assisted by the Ghanaian Embassy in Moscow to cross the border town of Suny into Russia for onward evacuation.
She said government has also put in place the necessary package to facilitate transportation, accommodation, feeding and medical support to ease any burden on Ghanaians who are being evacuated to safety.
Mrs. Botchway called for calm and requested the matter not be sensationalized as government is proactively dealing with the matter and putting measures in place to safely evacuate Ghanaians back to Ghana.