https://arab.news/mceyu
- Some 3,000 Pakistanis are currently stranded in Ukraine, according to Pakistan's foreign minister
- They have been asked to reach Ternopil city for their evacuation to Poland and further to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been making arrangements for a special flight to bring back Pakistanis stranded in Ukraine, a PIA spokesperson said on Friday, amid an intensifying Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian troops bore down on Ukraine’s capital Friday, with gunfire and explosions resonating ever closer to the government quarter, in an invasion of a democratic country that has fueled fears of a wider war in Europe and triggered worldwide efforts to make Russia stop.
With reports of hundreds of casualties from the warfare — including shelling that sliced through a Kyiv apartment building and pummeled bridges and schools — there also were growing signs that Vladimir Putin’s Russia may be seeking to overthrow Ukraine’s government in his boldest effort yet to redraw the world map and revive Moscow’s Cold War-era influence.
Some 3,000 Pakistanis are currently stranded in Ukraine, according to Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Pakistan's embassy has asked them to gather in the Ukrainian city of Ternopil, close to Poland's border, for their evacuation.
"A Boeing-777 of the PIA will bring [Pakistani] students back home," the PIA spokesperson said in a statement. "Preparations are being made for the flight and it will be sent as soon as these students reach Poland."
The Pakistani embassy would be assisting the transfer of these Pakistanis to the Ternopil city via land routes, the statement said.
"All possible arrangements will be made to bring these compatriots home," it quoted PIA CEO Arshad Malik as saying. "PIA has always stepped up whenever the country needed it."
On Thursday, Pakistan's Ambassador Dr. Noel Israel Khokhar told Arab News all Pakistani nationals in Ukraine were safe and the embassy was working on their evacuation.
“On our advice, many Pakistanis had already left the country,” he said. “Only a few students are left behind and we are making arrangements for their safe and secure evacuation from Ukraine.”