Ukraine news: Hundreds of African students in Ukraine are stranded in a town 40km from the Northeast border called Sumy which has become a war zone battered by days of shelling by Russian forces.
African students trapped in Sumy, Ukraine:
Most of the African students are Nigerian, while others are from Ghana, Ethiopia, Angola, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ireland, India, Lebanon and Turkey.
Trains and buses have stopped running and roads and bridges that ran out of the city have been destroyed while fighting is also being reported in the streets of Sumy.
Many students of African origin have had to stay behind in the war torn country in hostels since the attack on Russia last week.
The Guardian reported that a Nigerian student said that food and water supplies were already running low and it was no longer safe to go to local stores.
He said that they were hearing blasts everyday and had to flee to bunkers – these are basements that they had converted into a makeshift bunker.
How to donate and help evacuate stranded Africans in Ukraine
Many students had been assured by their universities that they would remain safe should they stay in their hostels. They were also advised to stock up on enough food and water that they would need for the day ahead.
The students confessed that should they have known the situation would be dire they would also have left the country.
Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was home to some 16,000 African students, according to Liubov Abravitova, the Ukrainian ambassador to South Africa.