A group of Maldivians in Ukraine has claimed that they are residing in an area where an invasion would affect them first.
A group of Maldivian students residing in Ukraine has since issued a statement regarding their current situation.
Expressing worry, the Maldivian students residing in Kharkiv, Ukraine, wrote that in case of an invasion, the airspace would be closed along with the possibility of border closure. The statement goes on to read that Kharkiv is the closest main city to the borders of Russia, with which being said the Maldivian students stressed that any invasion will affect them first.
Highlighting that no official government authority had contacted the Maldivians regarding this from day one, the group of students revealed that they were required to find the contact on their own from the nearest embassy to Ukraine, located in Berlin, Germany.
We created the group upon their request with the embassy officials so that they could respond to out questions and if in case of an emergency they can find a way to contact us. Nobody talked to us from te group except on the third day we sent screenshots of escalating news and the only response we got from the officials was that “(they were) monitoring the situation in Ukraine as developments unfold”A group of Maldivian students in Ukraine.
The statement goes on to reads that the last they heard from the authorities was when they were sent a google form to fill out all of the emergency contacts of the students, and that no one had contacted them and that they hadn’t been asked if they were facing any difficulties or decisions about their university or if they could afford to return to Maldives on their own. The students stressed that the ticket fare had surged to USD 2,500 within less than 24 hours.
Further, the students expressed disappointment that the government officials are making “false statements” about how they have been “handling” the situation.
The students quoted Speaker of Parliament and Former President Mohamed Nasheed having stated that “the situation over Ukraine is very worrying. Ukrainians and Russians are some of our biggest visitors and if war breaks out, it will have all sorts of negative and unforeseen ramifications. The government must be mindful of these possible impacts on us”, stressing that such statement are “very concerning”.
Going on to express embarrassment in having to chase the government for assistance in evacuation, the students revealed that they are so less in number while other countries having students over 4,000 were asked to leave the to evacuate without the students having to ask for help.
Further, the students noted that they had asked the government officials to issue them an official document of notice to evacuate so that the university could accommodate them on ways to education, fore the ticket prices went up. Since then, students have been unable to afford tickets to evacuate.
Highlighting that the exact same situation had occurred in 2014, when the war initially broke out, the students stated that the parents had to beg the authorities to do something about it.
We all wish for the safe passage of all Maldivian students out of Ukraine at the earliest and to not leave anyone behind”A group of Maldivian students in Ukraine.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that the authority is closely monitoring the situation of Maldivian students residing in Ukraine.
The ministry also urged Maldivians residing in Ukraine to pay special heed to the instructions of the Ukrainian government and to register at the nearest diplomatic mission, situated in Germany at the earliest.
