Morgan says Ja providing assistance to students in Ukraine

The Government has indicated that it is in contact with its Ukrainian counterparts to offer assistance to Jamaican students facing challenges in the Eastern European country. 

The students have been urged to make preparations to leave the country on short notice if required, as tensions between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Russia and Ukraine escalate. 

Speaking at this morning’s post-Cabinet press briefing, Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for Information, Robert Morgan, informed that the students are not pursuing studies on government scholarships or sponsorship but the Foreign Affairs Ministry, through Jamaica’s consulate in Berlin, is working to make contact with as many of the 42 as possible.

The majority of the group of students is pursuing studies in medicine. 

“The fact of the matter is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not aware of the quantity and what we have had to be doing is finding out from other students in Ukraine to help us identify some of the other students who are there,” Morgan told journalists. 

He said many did not register with any of the Jamaican embassies operating in Europe. 

He added, also, that the students, in the event of an emergency evacuation, would not need a visa in a 24-hour window, to transit through Germany to Jamaica or another country. 

“Part of the challenge that the students may be having is not related to Jamaica’s actions or inactions but related to their status within Ukraine,” Morgan said. 

“We’ve been trying to work with our Ukrainian partners to see how we can come to some arrangement where, if the students do leave, their studies are not disrupted or halted.” 

Russia and Ukraine have had conflict since 2014 when Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula. 

In the latest dispute, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has amassed troops on the border of Ukraine, a former satellite state of the then Soviet Union.

This is as a result of Ukraine’s interest in joining NATO, a security alliance, and the European Union, which Putin views as NATO encroaching on Russia’s borders.

This is seen as a security risk. 

- Kimone Francis

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