The form, which was created in cooperation with Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, will allow all concerned authorities and bodies to coordinate accordingly, as per a statement by the emigration ministry on Tuesday.

This came in a Zoom meeting with a number of community representatives and a group of students in Ukrainian cities, in the presence of Amr Abbas — the assistant minister for community affairs — where she stressed the importance of the unified form to follow up on the status of students in Ukraine.

Makram explained that the form includes all the details of students’ academic year, the city in which they reside, and whether they have proof of enrolment from their academic institution or not.

She also emphasised the importance of completing and submitting it right away while paying close attention to the accuracy of the data given.

The minister also followed up on the conditions of the Egyptian community in Ukraine, especially in the cities of Sumy and Kherson.

Last week, Makram urged Egyptian nationals in the eastern cities of the war-torn country to careful while heading from Kharkiv to Cossack Lopan village, and from Sumy city to Sutga city in the direction of Russia, stressing that all nationals heading to these areas should provide their info to the Egyptian Embassy in Moscow on the e-mail: [email protected].

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the Ministries of Emigration and Expatriate Affairs and Foreign Affairs have been working around the clock to coordinate with Ukrainian authorities to facilitate the exit of Egyptian nationals from the country.

In the past several days, Makram held more than one meeting via video conference with the Egyptian expat community in Ukraine to coordinate exit strategies.

On Friday, Egyptian authorities launched an air bridge to repatriate nationals who evacuated Ukraine to neighbouring countries.

In the past several days, hundreds of Egyptian expats have entered the neighbouring countries of Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland.

Egyptian airlines have also repatriated more than 550 nationals from Romania, Poland, and Hungary over the weekend, in addition to 71 from Slovakia on Tuesday, with more flights planned in the near future.

Before the Russian invasion, around 6,000 Egyptians lived in Ukraine, including 3,000 students.

The government has instructed the Egyptian Embassy in Kyiv to provide all the necessary support and care to injured nationals and other expats in Ukraine, adding that stranded Egyptians in the Ukrainian capital and eastern cities — which are under heavy Russian attack — should stay at home and shelters.