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Yusra Omar has been following the news on the Russia-Ukraine conflict keenly. It started as a matter of curiosity which soon morphed into anxiety and a fear that she might get caught up in the conflict.

She had a choice to make in the nick of time. Omar and her seven colleagues had to use any available route and means out of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

She successfully crossed over the border as missiles flew, jets roared and lives were lost in her trail.

Omar, in a telephone conversation with her father, Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi, recounted she and seven other Kenyan students braved the fighting in the eastern European nation to seek refuge in Poland.

Omar, who studies at a university in Kyiv said they were currently stranded in Poland awaiting to be evacuated to Kenya or another safer destination.

“There are some places where some people are locked up and they cannot leave. We left Kyiv city and travelled for many kilometres by foot to enter Poland, we are stranded here and very little is being done,” she said.

She says many of the students in her university managed to cross to Poland on Sunday morning and are now stranded there, unsure when Kenyan authorities will evacuate them.

“The situation in Ukraine is not good because moving out now from some cities is hard because there is no means of transport. We left when tension was beginning to build and we were lucky to get out,” she added.

She said the Kenya government had reached out to citizens in the war-torn country, asking them to flee to neighbouring countries from where it would arrange their evacuation.

“We were advised to get out of Ukraine so that any arrangements to repatriate us could be done from neighbouring countries. We were seven at the university and we have all managed to move out but many more Kenyans are still stranded in Ukraine,” she added.

Mwinyi, in an interview with a local media outlet, said he was making arrangements for his daughter to return home. Kenya has only an honorary consul in Kyiv, with its embassy in Moscow.

“We are making arrangements for their travel back home because learning cannot continue in that situation,” said Mwinyi.

In a public notice on February 25, 2022, the government urged Kenyans to leave Ukraine using “any available means”.

Safe passage

Officials did not indicate how many Kenyans are in Ukraine, but reports show they are in their hundreds, most of them on government-to-government scholarships.

Last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised those who wish to remain to move to safer regions such as the west of Ukraine where there is minimal fighting.

The government said it is also getting in touch with neighbouring countries to ensure those who leave are given safe passage.

Speaking in Parliament last week, Kwale Woman Rep Zulekha Hassan asked the government to move with speed and bring home Kenyans who have been caught up in the Russian invasion.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should state within what timelines will the repatriation process be undertaken,” Zulekha said in the statement which was referred to the departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations.

“In lieu of repatriations, could the National government consider relocating these citizens to safer regions within Ukraine or to more peaceful nations that neighbour Ukraine, as well as provide relief food and other supplies to them,” Zulekha said.

The MP said a number of Kenyans, most of them in Ternopil National Medical University, had been caught in the invasion.

“These Kenyans are already facing movement challenges occasioned by closure of airports and face the real possibility of inaccessibility to food supplies and communication platforms via imminent internet restrictions in the coming hours and days,” Zulekha noted.

She said the month-long state of emergency in Ukraine had been complicated further by the recent declaration of martial law on account of the invasion, resulting in a mass exodus of people from the country.

The MP gave 50 names of Kenyan students studying at Ternopil National Medical University in Kyiv.

The war has also affected the tourism sector in Mombasa after chartered flights from Ukraine were stopped.

Mombasa County had signed a flight agreement that would see monthly flights from Ukraine land in Mombasa.

The partnership agreement was signed by Odessa Deputy Mayor Oleg Bryndak and Mombasa Deputy Governor William Kingi on January 20.

According to Polmans Tours company head of operations Mohamed Hersi, a number of tourists have been forced to extend their stay in Mombasa owing to the war.

“Ukraine is an emerging market and quite a number of their nationals are at the coast. I feel for them. May this war end quickly. Ordinarily, people just want peace and calm to go about their daily lives but they end up as collateral damage,” said Hersi.

Yesterday, Mombasa County Finance Executive Mariam Mbaruk said Mombasa would lose in terms of tourism potential due to the invasion in Ukraine.

Mombasa had for the past one year received chartered flights from Odessa city.

“We are going to lose as a region because Ukraine played a pivotal role in revenues for Mombasa,” said Mbaruk.

Yesterday an official of the Ukrainian consulate in Mombasa said at least 45 Ukraine nationals were stranded at the Kenyan coast and arrangements to have them travel to Europe were underway.

Some of them, the official said, are in Diani, Ukunda where they had come for holiday.

“We are in the process of assisting them. Currently, I am in Diani,” said the official.

BBC reported yesterday that some 1,000 Ukrainian tourists were stranded in Zanzibar after the Ukrainian airspace was closed to civilian flights.

Racism at border

Zanzibar’s government says it was liaising with the Ukrainian embassy in Kenya to evacuate the tourists to Poland.

Tourism Minister Leila Mohammed Musa said the safety and well-being of tourists were being looked at.

Some hotels where the tourists are staying have reduced their rates while others are offering free accommodation to guests who have overstayed.

One of the tourists told the BBC they had been following events in Ukraine from their hotels. They were optimistic of being evacuated nearer home at the earliest opportunity.

Ukraine closed its airspace last week citing a high risk to flight safety.

At the same time, it emerged that about 200 Nigerians — many of the students — had arrived in the Romanian capital Bucharest from Ukraine. Safiya Nuhu said the group had been “well-received” and we’re staying in hotels.

A number of Africans have complained of racism at the Ukraine-Poland border.

Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister Geofrey Onyeama said he had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba about the issue and he was assured that Ukrainian border guards had been given orders to allow all foreigners leaving Ukraine to pass without restrictions.