South Sudan says it has contacted its students in Ukraine in a bid to evacuate them as the Russian offensive enters its fifth day. 

Al Jazeera reports that battles continued on Monday across the country as Russian forces close in on the capital, Kyiv. Blasts were heard across the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, located near Ukraine’s border with Russia. 

South Sudanese students, alongside other foreign nationals, have been stranded in Ukraine.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, South Sudan's deputy foreign affairs minister Ambassador Deng Dau Deng said that the ministry is in contact with South Sudanese students in Ukraine in order to evacuate them to neighboring countries. 

"The South Sudanese students are currently at the borders of Ukraine with Poland, and we are in contact with our embassies in Russia, Germany, and Poland, to evacuate them," he said.

The ministry says it supports a peaceful solution to the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

The United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) says more than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine into Poland and other neighboring countries in the wake of Russia’s invasion. The latest and still growing count had 281,000 people entering Poland, more than 84,500 in Hungary, about 36,400 in Moldova, over 32,500 in Romania, and about 30,000 in Slovakia.

Ukraine’s health ministry said on Sunday that about 352 civilians, including 14 children have been killed since the start of Russia’s invasion on February 14. It also said 1,684 people, including 116 children, have been wounded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered what he said was a “special military operation” against Ukraine on Thursday. A full-scale invasion followed, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declaring martial law, saying his country would defend itself.