After only spending a short time in Kyiv on a tourist visa, a Strand resident found himself having to flee war-torn Ukraine after Russian forces invaded the European country.
English teacher Johan Nel reportedly spent around R30 000 on transport and endured freezing conditions to escape Ukraine, Sowetan Live reports.
But the 25-year-old experienced frustration after being turned away from the Polish border, as officials decided only to allow Ukrainian women and children through, and according to HeraldLIVE, he was forced to make the rest of the journey on foot to the Slovakian border post.
The Citizen goes on to explain that Nel had to endure 50 hours without sleep, and spent many of these hours on foot to get to safety as bombs wreaked havoc in Ukraine.
Eventually, after 120 hours, Nel arrived at the Slovakian border. He stayed with a South African man in Budapest for a short period of time, as per IOL, and is said to have travelled to Amsterdam “where he planned to take a KLM flight to Johannesburg before coming home to Cape Town.”
Meanwhile, the Nelson Mandela Foundation has urged the South African government to “show leadership at this critical moment and press for a ceasefire so that rigorous negotiations on the future can be mapped out,” adding that they have indicated to the government their availability to assist in this regard.
“The Nelson Mandela Foundation has been following closely the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces. We are grieving for those who are losing so much. We are troubled by the complexity of the challenge to the world order, and by the vagaries of international rules of engagement. We see the unspeakable danger of nuclear plants coming under attack. We call for a cessation of hostilities and the restoration of peace in the region,” the statement reads.
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