Moroccan students stranded in Ukraine have few options to leave as Putin's war enters third day

As Russia's invasion entered into its third day, Moroccan students are joining thousands of other Arab students and the people of Ukraine in panic, with limited options to flee to neighbouring countries let alone find a way back home to the North African kingdom.

“Just before dawn on Thursday, we heard the sound of explosions. It was deafening and petrifying. It was the moment when we knew that the war started,” Ayman, a Moroccan student in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, told The New Arab.

As explosions rattled the city, and air raid sirens blared, Ayman and his friends went to shelter in the nearest metro station with hundreds of Ukrainians and foreigners caught in the Putin's war. 

“We are hiding in a metro station in Kharkov. It’s very crowded right here. We are scared and we cannot sleep because of the blast sounds. The Moroccan government must help us,” added Ayamn.

On February 12, the Moroccan government called on more than 10 000 Moroccan students in Ukraine to leave the conflict-ridden country immediately. 

Moroccan students argue that most Ukrainian universities, which require in-person classes, threatened to suspend students who failed to attend classes.

“I am a medicine student. It’s my third year. I couldn’t throw away the degree that I worked hard for and paid hundreds of euros to afford. Our hands were tied," Chaimae, a Moroccan student in Kyiv, told The New Arab.

Forced to choose between their lives and degrees, most Moroccan students decided to stay in Ukraine, buying into Putin’s early claims  Russia was not going to invade.

Mustapha Baitas, the Moroccan government’s spokesperson, said Thursday that 28 diplomats remained at the Kingdom's embassy in Ukraine to help Moroccans who chose to stay there.

“Morocco’s embassy in Ukraine received more than 750 phone calls from Moroccans living there. (...) We did ask the students to leave earlier [in February],” said Baitass in the government weekly press conference. 

He didn't add further information about the government’s plan to help those stranded in Ukraine.

“We did ask you to leave earlier,’ is the expression we hear whenever we call the Kingdom’s embassy in Ukraine. We didn’t leave. Now we need other solutions,” Ayoub Kerkachi, a Moroccan student in the western city Lviv, told The New Arab.

There are few options open to Moroccan student fate after the closure of Ukraine’s airspace to civilian flights since Thursday.

Rabat's Embassy in Ukraine asked Friday those wishing to leave the war-torn country to go to land border crossings with Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, where reception and escort cells will be established, as the embassy claimed.

Even so, however many students who are stranded in cities far away from the borders cannot leave their shelters for the time being.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday an unprovoked war on Kyiv for “the demilitarizing and the denazification of Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 198 people have been killed so far, including an unknown number of civilians. 

The UN's refugee agency said about 100,000 Ukrainians have been displaced, with thousands fleeing to nearby European states.