Vietnamese in Ukraine to move to nearby countries to fly to homeland: official

Hanoi (VNA) – Facing the complicated situation in Ukraine, Vietnamese people there will move to neighbouring countries and then take flights by Vietnamese carriers to the homeland, an official has said.

The aviation sector has been ready to repatriate Vietnamese people from Ukraine after the Prime Minister issued a dispatch on this issue, Dinh Viet Son, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), told the Vietnam News Agency on March 3.

Airlines’ flight plans are now dependent on the Foreign Ministry’s information about the number of citizens to be repatriated and flight destinations, as well as licenses granted by relevant countries, he said.

The first flight is expected to go to Warsaw (Poland) on March 5 morning and be conducted by Vietnam Airlines, Son revealed, but it is still waiting for this country’s permission.

The national flag carrier has made all-round preparations for performing the Government-assigned duty. Having operated many flights to Europe, it is entrusted with conducting the first to repatriate Vietnamese citizens from Ukraine.

The second flight will go to Bucharest (Romania) and is planned to be conducted by Bamboo Airways, he added.

Data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs show that there are about 7,000 Vietnamese people in Ukraine, mostly in the three major cities of Kyiv (800), Kharkiv (3,000), and Odessa (3,000).

The CAAV said the repatriation plan now is that the citizens in Ukraine will go by road to neighbouring countries, with those in Kyiv moving to Poland, in Kharkiv to Russia, and in Odessa to Moldova or Romania, and then flights will be arranged to bring them from these countries back home.

As it is unable to operate flights to Ukraine, which is currently a war zone, airlines have planned flights to destinations in nearby countries such as Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Russia, and Belarus.

Apart from these destinations, Vietnamese carriers are also ready to fly to any other places under the Government’s plan in the principle of ensuring safety and the best possible conditions for Vietnamese people and their families in Ukraine to return to the homeland, according to the CAAV./.