Nigeria evacuates 807 citizens from Ukraine

By MAUREEN OKON

Nigeria has evacuated 807 of its citizens from war-raged Ukraine as at Saturday.

The evacuees arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in three flights.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first batch of 450 Nigerians stranded in Ukraine arrived aboard Max Air flight 747 at 7:10 a.m., on Friday through Romania.

The second batch came aboard Air Peace Boeing 777-300 flight (APK7534) and arrived in Abuja with 183 passengers including kids through Warsaw.

The third batch of 174 evacuees arrived at 11.50 p.m. on Friday through Hungary.

Report says that many Nigerians and other nationals have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on its neighbour on Feb. 24.

The Federal Government approved the release of 8.5 million dollars on Wednesday for the immediate evacuation of at least 5,000 Nigerians fleeing the Russian-Ukrainian conflict zone to Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.

On Feb. 28, the Federal Government said Nigeria’s diplomatic mission had received 256 citizens from Ukraine at Bucharest, Hungary, Poland and Romania following the invasion.

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has been at the forefront of the evacuation. (NAN)