•They were put on buses at around 4 pm Kenyan time.
•The students had been stuck in Sumy city, north-eastern Ukraine.
Image: THIRD PARTY IMAGE via REUTERS
Kenyan students who had been stuck in Sumy, a city in north-eastern Ukraine with a heavy presence of Russian soldiers, have been evacuated to a safer city.
One of the students who identified himself as Ahmed said they were being evacuated by the district officers of the city to Poltava, a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine.
"I already told the media and now we are on a bus being evacuated at the moment," Ahmed said in a text message.
He said they are 26 Kenyan students.
A Kenyan doctor based in the neighbouring Romania said the students were put on buses at around 4 pm Kenyan time.
"The students are being evacuated to a safe area. Details are very shaky primarily because of the safety of the students, once I get to a safe region we will know where they are going to be and I will give you more details," she said.
The doctor has been following closely developments on the evacuation of Africans stuck in Ukraine.
Kenya's Foreign Affairs ministry gave a status update of Kenyans in Ukraine on March 1 and said 79 Kenyans, the majority of whom were students had been accounted for.
In a statement, the ministry said 74 Kenyan students had managed to cross over to Poland and were staying in the cities of Warsaw, Krakovets and Katowice.
It said two other Kenyan students were in Romania, two others in Hungary and one student had flown back to Kenya.
“So far, four Kenyans have shown no interest in leaving Ukraine citing personal reasons,” the ministry said.
Ukraine is still under heavy air bombardment from Russian missiles while Russian soldiers continue to advance on foot towards key cities.