Seventeen Ghanaian students in Ukraine on Tuesday (1 March) arrived in Ghana at the Kotoka International Airport.
They are the first batch of over 500 students expected to be evacuated to Ghana following the Russia invasion of Ukraine, reports Asaase Radio’s Gemma Appiah.
Addressing the students at the airport, a deputy minister for foreign affairs Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong told the students that the government will do everything possible to ensure that more Ghanaians are evacuated.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, who addressed a government press conference in Accra on Sunday (27 February), said the government with the assistance of some European countries bordering Ukraine has evacuated a number of Ghanaians to safe zones with several others being processed for evacuation.
She said “as at 12:00 hrs GMT today (27 February), information gathered was that about 460 students have left Ukraine en route 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.”
Botchwey said out of the number, 24 have already arrived in Bucharest, Romanian and are being assisted by Ghanaian officials on the ground with plane tickets to Accra while 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 into Russia for onward evacuation.
She said the 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.
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