TERNOPIL: The Embassy of Pakistan in Ukraine said Friday the evacuation of almost 98% of Pakistanis has been completed and only around 30 Pakistani are left in the war-affected country.
Those who left were stranded in areas of intense fight, Pakistani mission said on Twitter. “Embassy has approached both Ukraine and Russia for opening up a humanitarian corridor that will enable it to evacuate the remaining Pakistanis,” it added.
Pakistani embassy has shifted its operations from Kyiv after the Ukrainian capital came under heavy shelling and is providing all services from Ternopil. There were nearly 3,000 Pakistanis in Ukraine when the war broke out last month.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed on the need to set up humanitarian corridors and a possible ceasefire around them for fleeing civilians, both sides said after talks on Thursday, in their first sign of progress on any issue since the invasion.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has entered its second week. The number of refugees who have fled Ukraine has risen to more than 1 million, the United Nations said. Hundreds of Russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians have been killed.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan helped “distressed” Indian students fleeing the Ukraine war on “humanitarian grounds”.
