Vietnam to bring home 900 first citizens from conflict-torn Ukraine next week

The Vietnamese government has approved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ proposal to repatriate Vietnamese citizens in Ukraine, where the Russia-Ukraine military confrontation has been taking place since February 24, with about 900 first people to be sent home next week.  

Giving the top priority to citizen protection, the government has agreed at arranging flights to repatriate Vietnamese, people of Vietnamese origin and their family members from Ukraine at their will, the foreign ministry reported.

Initially, some 900 Vietnamese citizens will be brought home from Poland, Romania and Moldova, which borders Ukraine, the ministry said.

Currently, the ministry is coordinating with the Ministry of Transport to organize two repatriation flights, with the first to depart on March 7 in Romania and the second to take off one day later in Poland. 

The government has assigned the transport ministry to take the lead charge of flight arrangement, while the Ministry of Finance has been tasked with ensuring expenditure for the flights.

All returnees will undergo COVID-19 tests upon their arrival in Vietnam and will be subject to other necessary epidemic prevention rules applied by the Ministry of Health.

The foreign ministry is continuing to coordinate with relevant agencies to evacuate Vietnamese people and their family members from dangerous areas in Ukraine to neighboring countries, and repatriate those who wish to return to Vietnam, depending on actual situations.

Earlier on February 26, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued a dispatch asking the transport ministry to instruct Vietnamese airlines to set up plans for transporting Vietnamese citizens and their families in Ukraine back to Vietnam.

Over the past several days, Vietnam’s representative offices in Ukraine and neighboring countries have coordinated with local authorities and Vietnamese associations in host countries to support Vietnamese citizens to get out of affected areas and provide them with temporary accommodations and essential necessities.

As of Friday, almost of Vietnamese citizens in Kiev and Odessa and hundreds of people in Kharkov had been evacuated to neighboring countries, the offices said.  

Among the evacuated people, around 370 had arrived in Romania, 600 had come to Poland, 125 had reached Hungary, 40 had entered Slovakia, and 200 had been on the way from Moldova to Romania.

There are more than 7,000 Vietnamese citizens living in Ukraine, mainly in Kiev, Kharkiv and Odessa, according to official statistics.

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