TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As governments around the world work to evacuate citizens in Ukraine, thousands of Chinese students have reportedly been left stranded and scared.
CNA reported that as of Thursday (Feb. 24), the Chinese government had merely three safety alerts through its embassy in Ukraine. It advised Chinese nationals to attach the Chinese flag to cars when driving.
A student in the city of Kharkiv using the alias Zhang Gang (張鋼) told CNA, “We’re so scared, too scared. We didn’t think this was the real deal. All the students are terrified.” He said Chinese students, who remained in their dormitories despite safety concerns, had not expected the war to break out, as they had gotten used to Russia’s habit of randomly gathering its troops at the border.
A student going by the alias Zhang Qicheng (張琪成) was cited as saying roads became congested as soon as the sound of missiles stopped. “We could hear the sound of missiles going ‘boom, boom, boom’ outside constantly, and walls and windows kept shaking lightly. I’m very scared.”
A student going by Wang Xin (王鑫) located in downtown Kyiv said Chinese students were told to pack up their valuables by the embassy without being given details. They had no choice but to wait at home for further instructions.
Videos Chinese students uploaded to social media platforms show them hiding in an air raid shelter and police closing off roads to the airport, CNA reported. Prices of one-way plane tickets to China had risen to 50,000 renminbi (NT$220,000) for a single trip prior to Russia’s invasion, and now Ukraine's airspace is locked down, eliminating the possibility of evacuating by air.
The Chinese embassy in Ukraine insisted that Chinese citizens in the country “have not panicked,” CNA reported.
On Friday (Feb. 25), China Central Television (CCTV) reported that the Chinese embassy had issued an emergency notification for citizens to “start registering” for charter flights. The embassy in Ukraine said it would first “get a sense of how many Chinese citizens truly want to return to China.”
The embassy claimed that 6,000 Chinese nationals are currently in Ukraine. However, Shangyou News reported that according to the website of the Chinese embassy in Ukraine, over 10,000 students are studying in the country.
