As a reported 1,500 Pakistanis, including 500 students, have been stuck in Ukraine since the Russian invasion this past week, families are urging for the government to assist in their return, the Associated Press shares.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday that the Pakistani embassy has been temporarily moved from Kyiv to Ternopil following the invasion and is assisting with evacuations, as students wait on help following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s described “special military operation” in the country.
“My son is in Kharkiv which is being bombarded. He lives close to the border and that area is very dangerous,” said Shabana Bano Abbas, mother of Kharkiv National University student Syed Waqar Abbas.
Abba’s sister, Rubab, told the publication that Pakistani authorities have not been responsive in helping, and that her sibling has been “trying to contact the Pakistan Embassy for two days but the embassy has not been giving any response to him.”
As the AP reports, the Pakistani embassy in Ukraine tweeted that it is assisting with evacuations and having Pakistanis head to Ternopil so they can then flee to Poland. From Poland, the national airline PIA said it would then airlift citizens back home.
For more information on what’s been going on in Ukraine, follow along with Complex’s breakdown here.
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