Russia takes over 2,000 foreign students hostage - Iryna Vereshchuk

Alyona Mazurenko  - Monday,7 March 2022, 18:13

Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk has announced that Russia has taken 2,046 foreign students hostage and is blocking their evacuation.

Source: Iryna Vereshchuk in Facebook

Quote: "Taking foreign students hostage. This is what the Russians in Ukraine are doing, blocking their evacuation."

"659 students are from India, 160 from China, 144 from Turkey, and 400 from Nigeria. These students include nationals of Middle Eastern, Central Asian, African and Southeast Asian countries, including South Africa, Kazakhstan, Singapore and Saudi Arabia."

"A total of 2,046 foreign students from 27 countries [have been taken hostage]. They are all now trapped in Sumy, Chernihiv, Mariupol and Kherson because of the Russian shelling."

Details: Vereshchuk notes that by ignoring the appeals of these countries’ leaders to provide humanitarian corridors for the students, the Russians have "provoked the scorn of entire countries," including even China, India and Turkey.

The Minister added that if the humanitarian corridor from Sumy to Poltava is open on 8 March, the foreign students will be transported through this corridor.

Background: Russian forces began shelling and disrupted the opening of a "humanitarian corridor" from Mariupol on 6 March. It was scheduled for 12 pm.

Doctors Without Borders said the situation in the besieged city was catastrophic.

The Russian occupying forces also disrupted the planned evacuation of the population from Mariupol and Volnovakha on 5 March.

During the second round of talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Belarus on 3 March, the parties agreed to jointly organise humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from populated areas in the "hot spots" of the conflict.

Earlier, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said that the Ukrainian authorities are making every effort to evacuate foreign students. As at 3 March, Indian and Algerian civilians had been killed by missile and bomb attacks, and a Chinese national had been injured.