Turkish nationals who have evacuated Ukraine continued to enter Turkey on Monday through the northwestern Hamzabeyli border gate with Bulgaria as the conflict persists.
A group of 184 Turkish nationals, mostly students evacuated from Ukraine, arrived in the country thanks to the Foreign Ministry's coordination.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Seçkin Ali Bakımcı, who was in Ukraine for university, thanked the Foreign Ministry for remaining in close contact before and during the evacuation process.
Another student from Odessa, Erhan Yıldız, said a missile fell near the dormitory where he was staying.
"Then, we heard that soldiers entered the airport and its surroundings ... We immediately went to the shelters in the dorm.
"Ukrainian soldiers made hand signals indicating that we should turn off the lights and not go out," he added.
Yıldız said that during that time, the Turkish Consulate was in constant touch with them.
Savaş Ateş, who worked in Ukraine, said many buses were set to come to Turkey.
"Thanks to this consulate, thanks to Turkey, of course, the evacuation continues. The only problem is Kyiv, I think, there is no evacuation situation there. All students are in the shelter as far as I know.
"They (Russian forces) even shoot at Turkish people, and our friends were shot, some are now in the hospital," Ateş added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military intervention last Thursday, days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine.
At least 368,000 Ukrainians have fled to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and other countries since then, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Western powers have imposed harsh financial sanctions on Moscow and decided to supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition.
Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran on Friday announced the evacuation plan for Turkish nationals in Ukraine via land borders. “We have started our evacuation operations by land from Ukraine,” Kıran wrote on Twitter.
Turkey is “in close cooperation with the countries of the region to facilitate the passage of our citizens,” who will either leave through the ministry’s evacuation operations or by their own means via the border gates.
Kıran also outlined the measures that the nationals will have to adhere to when they pass through the land border gates.
