Ghana is engaging its relevant diplomatic missions and honorary consuls on ways to ensure the safety of more than 1,000 students and other Ghanaians in Ukraine as the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, which made this known yesterday has, therefore, asked Ghanaians in Ukraine to find shelter at home or go to government places for shelter.
“The government of Ghana is gravely concerned about the security and safety of the over 1,000 students and other Ghanaians in Ukraine,” tweets from the Ministry said yesterday.
The tweet follows incessant calls on the government to evacuate its citizens living in Ukraine where Russia has launched an attack by land, air and sea on Thursday.
Some students and Ghanaians living in the country have since reached out to families and the media, expressing fear for their lives as they are stranded and already running out of food.
In an interview on GTV monitored by the Ghanaian Times, Joseph Yankson, a student, said although his destination was about a three-hour drive from where the violence was taking place, he feels unsafe.
“The indigenous students have left campus but we as foreign students are stranded here. We don’t know what to do. Currently the situation is unbearable. We have no information,” he said.
Mr Yankson appealed to the government to evacuate them as soon as possible else they would fall victim of the attack if the attacks extend to where they were living.
“We just wish to receive communication from our foreign ministry on what to do next. If the government can hire a private jet to evacuate us, it should be because we do not feel safe here”, he said.
Another student, who spoke to the Ghanaian Times on condition of anonymity, said “There is bombing all over the place and there was a huge explosion near our hostel with a fume of smoke billowing in the air.
“It is a terrifying situation. As I speak with you, I am in tears because I do not know what will happen next as explosions are intensifying in our neighbourhood.”
Meanwhile, international relations expert and the Dean of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, has said the issue at hand was murky as the global institutions did not have what it takes to stop the big powers when they misbehaved.
On the evacuation, he said, it was not an easy decision because the airspace of Ukraine was closed and all that Ghana could do was to ask any other country evacuating its residents to see if it could help Ghanaians there.
In what has been described as the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War II, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine early Thursday.
According to reports, the assault started before dawn with a series of missile attacks against locations near the capital Kyiv, as well as the use of long-range artillery against the city of Kharkiv, near the Russian border.
It is said to have swiftly spread across central and eastern Ukraine as Russian forces attacked the country from three sides, reportedly injuring at least 50 civilians and military men so far.
The Russian-Ukrainian War is an ongoing and protracted conflict that started in February 2014, chiefly involving Russia and pro-Russian forces on one hand, and Ukraine on the other. The war has centred on the status of Crimea and parts of the Donbas, which are internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR