AFRICANS TRAPPED IN UKRAINE CROSSFIRE

By: Ollus Ndomu

Several thousands of Africans studying in Ukraine are desperate to leave as Russian troops wreak unprecedented havoc on the 44-million man country, destroying infrastructure, injuring soldiers and civilians, while displacing about 120, 000 of Ukrainians into neighboring European countries.

With flights grounded and other options limited, there is not much that African governments can do to evacuate their citizens except issuing cosmetic statements.

A Nigerian student, Sarah Akita Idachaba who is studying medicine in the capital Kiev with her elder sister described the mood on Friday as tense, narrating that everyone was under pressure while sirens were continuously sounded, DW.

Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights, including from Kyiv airport, citing high safety risk.

Idachaba and other African students felt abandoned as air raid sirens were heard across Kyiv and some residents sought refuge in metro stations and air raid shelters.

Other students trapped in the worsening Ukrainian catastrophe are 141 Zambian students whose parents are worried back home despite assurances from the government that their children would be evacuated.

Speaking Thursday in the capital Lusaka, Foreign Affairs Minister Stanley Kakubo announced preparations to rescue Zambian nationals but made no mention how the process would be conducted since movement has become restrictive due to airstrikes in major Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine remains under a Russian large-scale military assault since Thursday morning following President Vladimir Putin’s instructions, casting aside all diplomatic efforts by Europe and America and its allies.

Meanwhile, the West and Europe have continued to unleash barrages of economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia, which experts have described as the harshest in the world’s history.