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27 Lankans in Ukraine choose to stay

10 Mar 2022

BY Pamodi Waravita Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris said yesterday (9) that there are 27 Sri Lankans who have chosen to remain in Ukraine at the moment, with employment and marriage-related commitments. “There were 89 Sri Lankan citizens in Ukraine. Out of them, 15 were students. From the remaining 74, 39 of them have left Ukraine. Our Sri Lankan Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, facilitated visa-related processes to Germany, Poland, Romania, and Moldova,” Prof. Peiris said at the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) press conference held yesterday. Foreign Ministry officials said last week that all Sri Lankan students who were studying in Ukraine had already left the country by last week. Prof. Peiris added yesterday that only 27 Sri Lankans were remaining in Ukraine, who had communicated via telephone to the Embassy in Turkey that they did not wish to leave at the moment due to personal commitments such as those related to employment and marriage. Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February morning, which has led to more than 400,000 people fleeing to neighbouring European countries. Belarus, Ukraine’s neighbouring country, is allied with Russia in the war. Prof. Peiris noted that there are 1,561 Sri Lankans in Belarus, who are co-ordinated by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in the Russian Federation in Moscow. The embassy has set up a round-the-clock hotline and is also ready to facilitate the visa process for Sri Lankan students in Belarus who wish to move to Russia. Furthermore, he said that universities in Belarus had agreed to give a one-month tuition-free holiday to students there. Ukraine continues to fight and resist the Russian invasion, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refusing to surrender. The US, along with other European nations have already imposed sanctions on Russia and have expelled Russia from SWIFT, a high-security network of financial institutions. Ukraine and Russia commenced peace talks at the Belarus border on 28 February.


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