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Ukraine: Air Peace Begins Evacuation of Trapped/Stranded Nigerians

Shola Oshunkeye March 3, 2022

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Nigerians, whose loved ones are trapped in war-torn Ukraine, Thursday, got the piece of news they had earnestly yearned for since the Russian invasion started a week ago.

Popular Nigerian airline, Air Peace announced, Thursday, that it had deployed its aircraft to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Europe in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Stanley Olisa, the airline’s spokesman, dropped the heart-warming news via a press statement in Lagos on Thursday.

“This is the first batch of Nigerians to be evacuated since the war broke out,” he said, revealing that the first evacuation flight was already on its way to Warsaw, Poland.

The estimated time of arrival for the evacuation flight, according to Olisa, is 09.10 Nigerian Time.

Recall that many Nigerians who were caught in the war between Russia and Ukraine had relocated to Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, had earlier confirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari approved funds for the airlines(Max air and Air Peace) to evacuate Nigerians who wanted to leave.

He said there were about 8,000 Nigerians in Ukraine, 5,000 of whom were students.

On the heart-warming development, Air Peace chairman, Mr. Allen Onyeama, said: “We made Romania the hub and over a thousand Nigerians have crossed there. Poland has about 250, Budapest in Hungary has a similar number, Slovakia is rising rapidly. It is also around 200. There are some Nigerians in a place called Sumy close to the Russian border.

“I have been in touch with the ambassador. There are about 150 of them who are looking to cross into Russia and we have asked the ambassador in Russia to try and get a permit for them to transit to Russia and hopefully, by Wednesday we will start deploying planes to start bringing the Nigerians.”