- PS Macharia Kamau said they have advised Kenyans to make an assessment as to their circumstances and take necessary precaution.
- There are 18 Kenyan students in Ukraine with permanent registration and 183 with temporary registration.
Image: /EZEKIEL AMINGA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its mission in Vienna has issued a cautionary advisory note to all Kenyans in Ukraine.
Foreign Affairs PS Ambassador Macharia Kamau on Friday said they have advised Kenyans to make an assessment as to their circumstances and take necessary precaution and or make arrangements to leave as they deem fit in light of their own circumstances.
“So far all the Kenyans in Ukraine are reported to be safe,"Ambassador Kamau said in a statement.
"Some Kenyans, however, have been stuck at boarder points, particularly with Poland where because of visa restrictions they have not been able to cross over.”
The PS said the ministry is in touch with all the neighbouring countries of Ukraine within the European Union to seek their accommodation and to allow Kenyans to transit through their countries should they wish to return home.
“The western part of Ukraine is relatively safe because there is very little military activity going on there. Kenyans are encouraged to harbour there as they wait for the situation to settle down and or as they make their plans to come home,” the PS said.
On Wednesday, Honorary Consul of Kenya in Ukraine Anatoliy Kovalenko said as of January, there were 18 Kenyan students in Ukraine with permanent registration and 183 with temporary registration.
He cited the Migration Service of Ukraine.
Kovalenko further said there are seven Kenyans in the troubled regions of Donetsk (1) Luhansk (1) and Odessa (5), from where they would be evacuated through the Ukrainian State Rail Company.
He said while there was panic among the Kenyans, they were largely safe and they are in touch through a WhatsApp group and there is also "a lot of personal communication”.
A Ukrainian in Kyiv said there were air attacks that hit “strategic objects such as local airfields and ammunition depots in various parts of Ukraine. It wasn't unexpected, all aircraft was removed before that started”.
“Now all is quiet here,” she said.
This comes even as two Ukrainians living in Kenya showed up at the Russian Embassy in Nairobi to express solidarity with their country.
Dara Nykytuik and Makaym Tykhonov protested outside the Russian ministry with a placard written “Hands off Ukraine’.
Tykhonov told the Star they will give the police a notice when they will be organising a bigger protest.
On Thursday, members of the Russian community in Los Angeles, the US, demonstrated against Russia after it launched a military operation against Ukraine.
According to Reuters, Ukrainians in the US are also making donations, sending money to relatives and mulling how they could get family out of the affected regions.
They also called on President Joe Biden and world leaders to do more to thwart Russia's invasion.
The aggression escalated on Friday, with Russian military saying it had seized the key Hostomel airfield near Kyiv and killed 200 troops from Ukraine's special units.
According to the BBC, UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told MPs in the House of Commons that 450 Russian soldiers and 194 Ukrainians, including 57 civilians, had been killed since Vladimir Putin's invasion began Thursday.
Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday tweeted that Russia had struck Kyiv.
“Horrific Russian rocket strikes on Kyiv. Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany. Ukraine defeated that evil and will defeat this one. Stop Putin. Isolate Russia. Severe all ties. Kick Russia out of everywhere,” Kuleba tweeted.
He said Russia also attacked a kindergarten and an orphanage, terming it“war crimes and violations of the Rome Statute”.
“Together with the General Prosecutor’s Office we are collecting this and other facts, which we will immediately send to the Hague. Responsibility is inevitable,” Kuleba tweeted.