First flights ready to bring Vietnamese citizens home from Ukraine

Two flights conducted by Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airlines to repatriate Vietnamese citizens from Ukraine are scheduled to depart from Romania and Poland on March 7 and 9, respectively. —VNA/VnExpress News Photo for illustration

HÀ NỘI — Two flights repatriating Vietnamese people form Ukraine will depart from Romania and Poland this week. 

One flight, conducted by national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, is scheduled to depart from Romania on March 7 transporting 283 Vietnamese citizens. It is expected to arrive at Nội Bài International Airport in Hà Nội at noon on March 8. 

The other flight, conducted by Bamboo Airlines, will depart from Poland on March 9 with 270 passengers onboard. It is scheduled to arrive at Nội Bài airport on March 10 in the morning. 

The Government recently approved the policy to arrange flights to bring Vietnamese people from Ukraine home.

With spirit of humanity and placing the highest priority to the protection of Vietnamese citizens, the Government allows the organisation of flights repatriating Vietnamese people and their families, with the initial number of 900 Vietnamese people, who will depart from Poland, Romania or Moldova.

They will receive COVID-19 tests upon their arrival in Việt Nam and take necessary medical measures in line with the Ministry of Health’s instruction.

The Government assigned the Ministry of Transport to take the major lead in arranging the flights, while the Ministry of Finance was asked to finance the flights.

As part of efforts to implement the Prime Minister’s direction, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has worked with the Ministry of Transport to conduct the two repatriation flights.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to coordinate with agencies to continue to arrange flights to evacuate Vietnamese people and their family members from dangerous areas in Ukraine to neighbouring countries, and bring those who wish to return to Việt Nam depending on the real situation and capacity of Việt Nam.

In recent days, Vietnamese representative offices in Ukraine and neighbouring countries have coordinated closely with local authorities and Vietnamese associations in host countries to support the Vietnamese community to evacuate from conflict areas and provide them with temporary accommodations and essential necessities.

As of March 4, almost all of Vietnamese people in Kyiv and Odessa and hundreds of people in Kharkov had been evacuated to neighbouring countries. Of them, 370 had come to Romania, 200 had been on the way from Moldova to Romania, 600 from Ukraine had arrived in Poland, about 125 had reached to Hungary and about 40 had come to Slovakia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ group for citizen protection and representative offices are keeping a close watch on the situation and receiving requests from Vietnamese people through citizen protection hotlines.

Vietnamese in Ukraine and neighbouring countries who need support or wish to flee from war areas can contact the ministry and representative offices in countries through following phone numbers:

+ Ministry of Foreign Affairs: +84-965411118, +84-981848484; Email: [email protected]

+ Vietnamese Embassy in Ukraine: +380 (63) 8638999

+ Vietnamese Embassy in Russia: +79916821617

+ Vietnamese Embassy in Polland: 0048782257359

+ Vietnamese Embassy in Romania: 0040744645037

+ Vietnamese Embassy in Slovakia: +421 2 5245 1263, +421 915 419 568. — VnExpress News