The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has said a total of 226 Ghanaians have successfully been evacuated from troubled Ukraine.

According to the Ministry, it has doubled its evacuation efforts in the wake of intensified tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration wishes to inform the public that the evacuation of Ghanaian nationals from Ukraine is progressing steadily. To date, the Government of Ghana has been able to evacuate a total of two hundred and twenty-six Ghanaians to Ghana,” the Ministry announced in a statement on Friday, March 18, 2022.

Russian troops have since February 2022 invaded Ukraine, unleashing mayhem on the former Soviet bloc following Russia’s disagreement with NATO’s eastward expansion.

While some Ghanaians living in Ukraine fled to neighbouring countries, the government of Ghana has been able to bring some of them back to Ghana.

The first batch of Ghanaians, mostly students, touched down in Ghana on March 1, 2022, followed by some more others subsequently.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has assured that the remaining batch of Ghanaians in Hungary will soon be brought home as the government of Ghana is in talks with Honorary Consulates in Hungary, and is monitoring the situation before a complete evacuation is done.

The Ministry in the statement also noted that no Ghanaian citizen had perished in the Russia-Ukraine war.

“The government of Ghana through the Honorary Consulate in Hungary continues to monitor the situation and is redoubling efforts towards the completing the evacuation of the remaining batch of students and Ghanaians out there.”

The Ministry, however, relayed its disappointment in the Ghanaians who have refused to be evacuated back to Ghana following the war, despite efforts by the government to evacuate them.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration notes with concern that, against the backdrop of the prevailing situation and notwithstanding the readiness of the government of Ghana to airlift home our compatriots who have fled from the Ukraine crisis, some of them are unwilling to return to Ghana.”

The Ministry says the government will not be blamed if anything happens to them as they (government) are willing to evacuate them, yet, they have refused.