Poland opens its doors to Bangladeshis stranded in Ukraine

Poland has agreed to grant entry to Bangladeshis stranded in Ukraine due to the ongoing Russian invasion without a visa.

Valid passport-holders will be able to cross the border into Poland by presenting their passports to the border guards, the Bangladesh Embassy in Warsaw said in a statement on Thursday.

Those who do not have a passport can also enter the country with a travel pass. The embassy has requested all Bangladeshis to carry two passport-sized colour photographs of themselves.

A delegation from the Bangladesh mission in Warsaw will leave for the Poland-Ukraine border to help Bangladeshis enter the country on Friday, according to the statement.

The embassy highlighted the explosions rocking Ukraine along with a shortage of petrol and reports of heavy traffic congestion along the way to the Polish border. In the circumstances, it urged expatriate Bangladeshis, who live far from the border to closely monitor the situation before heading out.

After days of mounting tensions, Russian forces launched a ground and air offensive on Ukraine on Thursday. The capital, Kyiv, is also being shelled.

Bangladeshis living in different cities of Ukraine have found themselves trapped in the conflict and have called on the authorities to rescue them. Most of them are students.

The distance from Kyiv to the Polish border is about 500 km but the shut down of air spaces in the region and abnormal traffic on land makes the journey a precarious one, according to Bangladeshis stranded in Ukraine.

Many Bangladeshi students do not have enough money to travel to Poland. Their woes are exacerbated by the complexities of receiving money from Bangladesh.

There are also reports of some Bangladeshis being trapped in the Ukrainian city Mariupol, which is more than 1000 km away from the Polish border. The Russian forces also attacked the area on Thursday.

Bangladeshis are also trying to seek safe shelter through other bordering countries, including Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova.

The foreign ministry has provided a list of telephone numbers for necessary assistance.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS

For Slovakia and Hungary: Bangladesh Embassy in Austria, Vienna:

(i)Rahat Bin Zaman, deputy chief of mission: [phone]

(ii)Jubayadul H Chowdhury, ACO: [phone]

For Romania and Moldova: Bangladesh Embassy in Romania, Bucharest:

(i) [phone]

(ii) Mir Mehedi Hasan: [phone]

For Poland: Bangladesh Embassy in Warsaw:

(I) Md Masudur Rahman: [phone]

(ii) Md Mahbubur Rahman: [phone]

(iii) Farhana Yesmin: [phone]

(iv) Billal Hossain: [phone]

(v) Md Rabbani: [phone]