Nineteen of 22 Jamaican students have disembarked after arriving in Lviv, Ukraine, and are set to join another four students already in the city as they make their way on the challenging journey to Poland today (February 27).

In a statement this morning, the Ministry of Foreign Affaris and Foreign Trade said the remaining three of the 22 students who fled under-seige Kharkiv were advised by their parents to remain on the train.

Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, said accommodations have been arranged for the students to stay overnight in Lviv and thanked the two student leaders who led the engagements on the ground before their colleague students arrived by train.

Johnson Smith noted however that the next stage of the journey to Poland would be particulary challenging due to the disruptions to internal transportation and the large numbers of persons trying to pass through the borders as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine.

“From all indications and reports, the next stage will be a most challenging one, the border crossing points with Poland are very crowded with lines stretching for miles in certain cases, many persons making the journey on foot and this, of course, is in a context of winter conditions.”

Johnson Smith added: “We are therefore focussed on finalising transportation for the students.”

She said she was also deploying the Charge d’Affaires in Berlin, Deniese Sealey, to Poland “to work with friends of Jamaica, members of the Jamaican community and the Honorary Consul, to receive our nationals on their arrival”.

Said Johnson Smith: “(Sealey) will provide general support to the process, including settling the arrangements made for their accommodation and subsistence, which are already under way.

“For clarity, the Government will underwrite costs of subsistence in Lviv and in Poland, as well as the transportation costs for the students in Lviv.”

In her continuing effort to counter the backlash received from a statement last week in which her ministry claimed students had declined to accept a loan offer for airfare out of Ukraine ahead of the attacks by Russia, Johnson Smith stressed that the Government has already committed to paying the cost of the students’ airfare back to Jamaica and re-imbursement would not be required.

The minister also reiterated that Russia’s attack on Ukraine was in “clear violation of the United Nations Charter, particulrly the obligation to respect the sovereign rights and the territorial integrity of States”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Tade wishes to remind family members that the Ministry may be contacted by email at: [email protected] or [email protected], or via WhatsApp at: 876 469-4058, for information.