Foreign Ministry has stated that it is not safe for stranded Maldivians in Ukraine to travel due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, and that they are unclear as to when an evacuation could be facilitated.

While the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been escalating since Thursday, the Maldivian government has been working hard to evacuate Maldivians in Ukraine. As such, 15 students in the Ivano-Frankivsk region has been granted entry into Hungary and will be repatriated to the Maldives on Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference held today regarding the situation in Ukraine, Deputy Foreign Minister Abdulla Humaid said that there are 12 Maldivians stranded in Ukraine, and that all of them were quite far from the Hungary border.

He estimates that it would take about 16 hours to reach the border from their location, and added that it could be exaggerated quite a lot due to outgoing traffic. He further added that it was currently unsafe for them to make such a long journey as well.

According to Humaid, the 12 Maldivians who remain in Ukraine include eight in Kharkiv, three in Kyiv, and one in Dnipro. Half of them are students while the other half are family members.

During the press conference, Communications Director Mohamed Miuvan said that in addition to the 12 Maldivians in Ukraine, there were 88 Maldivians in Russia and 137 in Belarus, a majority of which are students.

He added that they currently do not face any unsafe conditions and that the Ministry had been receiving reports of difficulties in withdrawing cash from the ATMs. Miuvan noted that they were in talks with BML on finding a solution to the issue.