Gov't to facilitate return of locals stranded in Ukraine

The government has announced plans to assist Maldivian students stranded in Ukraine, facing threats of war.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday revealed that they will be providing assistance to students who wish to return to Maldives, under the instructions of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

However, the ministry noted that they are not doing a full-scale evacuation of Maldives, adding that they will be providing financial assistance to the locals who wish to return.

With this being said, the authority revealed that students will be able to travel normally via commercial flights as flights are still operating and borders remain open as usual.

The ministry revealed that more details will be issued at a later date.

RaajjeMV understands that the students residing in Kharkiv, Ukraine will be returning on Wednesday.

Earlier, a group of Maldivian students residing in Kharkiv issued a statement, revealing that they are residing in an area where an invasion would affect them first. As such, the students 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.

The foreign ministry earlier revealed that they were monitoring the situation of over 50 locals in Ukraine. The authority has also urged Maldivians to refrain from travelling to Ukraine due to the severity of the situation.

Ukraine and Russia’s situation escalation with Ukraine’s initiation of talks to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Since then, the situation has been escalating, with threats of war having made headlines as well.