Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine with his military troops on the 23rd of February causing panic and anxiety around the world and leaving Nigerian students trapped in Ukraine with no way out of the country.
Russia and Ukraine’s Past
In January last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked United States President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to become a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Russia became agitated and troops were dispatched close to its Ukraine border for “training exercises”. In December, the United States began reporting the movement of the Russian troops and President Biden notified Russia about grave sanctions if they attacked Ukraine. Russia has asked that the West offer a legally binding assurance that NATO will not conduct any military task within eastern Europe and Ukraine. Russia intended to seize Kyiv and overturn the government which Vladimir describes as a puppet of the US according to The United States and Ukrainian officials. Vladimir Putin also called Ukraine an illegitimate state historically owned by Russia.
Prior to this, Russia had attacked Ukraine in 2014 when insurgents supported by President Putin had seized a huge area of eastern Ukraine and came to blows with Ukraine’s army afterwards. During that period, Russia had invaded Crimea. As a previous Soviet republic, Ukraine had profound social and cultural relations with Russia. Russian is a common language there but since the Russian attack in 2014, those ties severed. Earlier in the same year, Russia invaded Ukraine when its pro-Russian president was overthrown. The battle in the east has since taken about 14,000 lives. Russia and Ukraine had signed the Minsk peace agreement to stop the armed dispute in east Ukraine and the Donbas region but as the conflict persisted, Russia claims it is dispatching “peacekeepers” to the area where the clash is looming. The West says it is a smokescreen by Moscow to take up residence in the sovereign region. The current tension between Russia and Ukraine, which also borders the European Union, has consequences for the EU. That is the reason why the European Union, made up of NATO signatories, have joined the US in imposing a penalty against Russian establishments.
Present-day War
Tensions between Russia and the previous Soviet republic, Ukraine took a turn for the worse when Russian forces attacked major Ukrainian cities on Thursday in what President Putin calls a “special military operation.” The attack began in the morning with a series of missile attacks and the use of long-range artillery; the assault quickly spread across central and eastern Ukraine as Russian forces attacked the country from three sides. By early Friday, things had escalated as the CNN team on ground reported hearing two large blasts in central Kyiv, a third loud explosion in the distance, about three additional explosions to the southwest of the city.
Caught between the explosions are an estimated 4,227 are Nigerians, who are the fifth-highest international student population according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science in 2020. With no flights out of the country and very little help from their home, these students are trapped in Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Anjola-Oluwa Ero-Phillips told CNN that he and around 70 other Nigerian students are stuck in Lviv, which is about 300 miles from Ukraine capital Kyiv where the explosions are going off.
“There have not been explosions here but earlier in the day we heard the siren tests. Flights are cancelled and it’s hard to get any taxis or Uber. Everybody is at the ATM trying to withdraw cash but banks are not opening. Money is running out at the ATM and you can’t do app transactions anymore. No one has any idea what to do,” said Ero-Phillips, president of the Lviv arm of the Association of Nigerian students in Ukraine.
He also revealed that they had reached out to the Nigerian embassy last month informing them about the brewing war and disruption. However, they were met with no solution except “check the website.” Following the lack of response, Nigerians are stranded, feeling abandoned and crying out for help.
Speaking with Premium Times, Ero-Phillips added, “We do not know what is happening, we see other nations organizing flights for their people. I think it will be good to know if we have a place of convergence, we have no idea and people are asking if they should start returning home. The embassy is responsive anytime we reach out to them but it is the same response every time, which leaves me wondering if there are no plans for the worst-case scenario.”
Like Ero-Phillips, Jessica Orakpo, the president of Nigerian students in Ternopil National Medical University which is a six-hour drive from Kyiv (Ukraine’s capital), said the students are on their own with no assistance from the embassy.
In her interview with Premium Times, she said, “We received a letter a few minutes ago asking us to remain calm and before today when the threats started, I called the ambassador and he said he could not ask us to go home but people who wanted to could but he would not be quoted as asking Nigerians to go home. We reached out to our embassy to put pressure on schools but our embassy said they could not do anything saying they could not help our school make that decision. Now the case has become worse, we cannot travel, most airlines have cancelled flights, the embassy is not saying anything. We are literally fending for ourselves. India brought their letter but Ghana and Nigeria’s letters were not issued and that was when I called and they said they could not infringe on the decision-making process of our school, that it has never been done. And if our school wants that kind of letter from them, our school should write to them. It became a game of diplomacy, nobody wants to take responsibility for asking Nigerians to go home.”
Unlike Nigeria, India, U.S., Canada and Australia are evacuating their citizens.
Nigeria’s Response
Reacting to the escalating situation in Ukraine, the Nigerian embassy in Ukraine issued a statement on Thursday with no clear solution. The statement, shared on Twitter by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), read;
“The embassy urges Nigerian nationals resident in Ukraine to remain calm but be very vigilant and be responsible for their personal security and safety. In case of students seeking such temporary relocation, they are enjoined to seek proper clearance and guarantee from their respective institutions, authorities/agents on the way forward in respect to their studies during this period and/or thereafter. For those who still consider it appropriate to remain in the country, be assured that the embassy remains open for its consular duties and responsibilities at all times. it will always avail you of updates when necessary. The embassy wishes to add that should any of Nigerian nationals consider the situation as emotionally disturbing, such nationals may wish to temporarily relocate to anywhere considered safe by private arrangements they should, however, ensure that they do all the needful to validate all their resident documents for ease of return to the country when desired.”
According to Abike Dabiri of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission, the country’s foreign ministry will announce evacuation plans. However, she did not give a timeline for these plans. The Nigerian House of Reps said in a tweet that they would support and assist the swift evacuation of Nigerian students from Ukraine and the House of Reps leader, chairperson, and committee of Nigerian Foreign Affairs are making plans to fly to Ukraine today.
People in Ukraine have been advised to pack an emergency bag, hoard groceries and secure their documents. They have also been provided with information on bomb shelters. Residents of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are also leaving in search of safer havens.
Ukraine Today
According to The Spectator Index, Russia has destroyed over 70 military targets in Ukraine and Russian troops have taken charge of Antonov airport near Kyiv. The Kyiv administration has advised their citizens to seek shelter as soon as possible because of the Russian attacks. Russians have taken to the streets to protest against the war. Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to remain in Ukraine with his family and urged civilians to pick up weapons against Vladimir’s troops.
Zelenskyy also addressed Russians in a speech saying he wants peace and informed them of the implications and effects the war will have in Ukraine. United States President, Joe Biden on live television placed sanctions on Russia yesterday. He threatened to cut off about half of Russia’s tech imports and sanction Russian banks in the United States including Russia’s largest banks and freeze their assets. Taiwan also intends to sanction Russia and called for the invasion to stop. Nigeria remains silent in all of these.