Russian invasion of Ukraine: 165 Bangladeshis reach safety
About 150 Bangladeshis have entered Poland from Ukraine over the last two days, fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24.
Two officials of the Bangladesh embassy in Warsaw told The Daily Star yesterday evening that several hundred Bangladeshis were waiting in the cold in long queues on the other side of the border to get into Poland.
"It is expected that Poland will be prioritising their own citizens and Ukrainians at the border. There is a long queue as thousands of people are fleeing Ukraine," said an official of the embassy, which also oversees diplomatic relations with Ukraine.
A team from the embassy is working at the Ukraine-Poland border to provide consular services to Bangladeshis. Two other teams – one from Italy and the other from Germany – were on the way to the border.
The Bangladesh embassy and the Polish government are jointly arranging accommodation for those arriving in Poland, the officials said.
Meanwhile, at least 15 Bangladeshi students from Uzhhorod, a western Ukrainian city close to the Hungarian and Slovakian border, were being processed for entry into Hungary, said Deputy Chief of Mission Rahat Bin Zaman at the Bangladesh embassy in Vienna, Austria.
He said after the foreign ministry published contact numbers for the Bangladeshis in Ukraine, the students contacted him. He then drove to the Hungary-Ukraine border to facilitate their immigration.
"We have arranged train tickets for the students to Budapest where the authorities of a university have agreed to provide accommodation," Rahat said.
Since the Russian attack began last Thursday, many of some 2,000 to 2,500 Bangladeshis, mostly students, began to move to the western borders.
There were troubles on the way caused by shortages of fuel and long queues as thousands of foreigners and Ukrainians were fleeing the country to take refuge in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Moldova.
The Bangladesh foreign ministry has said it was planning to charter flights to bring the Bangladeshis home.
While most of the Bangladeshis were leaving Ukraine, some chose to stay.
Khaled Mosharraf has been living in Ukraine for more than three decades and is now a Ukrainian citizen. He said he did not leave Kyiv because he had thought that there would not be street fighting.
"Sure, there are missiles targeting the military infrastructures. However, missile targets are also failing and striking the civilians," Khaled told The Daily Star yesterday from Kyiv.
He said he lives 20km away and heard explosions only a few kilometres away.
"We take cover in the basement when the sirens go off. But, if missiles hit our building, we will face what is in store for us," he said.
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