Call to Flee Ukraine Caused ‘Quite a Panic,’ Says British Student

Call to Flee Ukraine Caused ‘Quite a Panic,’ Says British Student
Haider Ali, 21, from Birmingham, arrives at the Gatwick airport in London from Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 12, 2022. Sophie Wingate/PA
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The call for Britons to flee Ukraine as the threat of Russian invasion looms caused “quite a panic” and a rush to return home, according to a student who landed in the UK on one of the first commercial flights out of Kyiv since the warning.

Passengers arrived at Gatwick Airport, south of London, on a direct flight from the Ukrainian capital shortly after noon on Saturday, just hours after the Foreign Office warned UK nationals in the country, thought to number in the low thousands, to “leave now while commercial means are still available.”