HCMC – State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered relevant ministries and agencies to prioritize the safety of Vietnamese citizens in Ukraine, where a military conflict with Russia is taking place.
Chairing at a meeting on March 6, the president affirmed the spirit of letting no Vietnamese people in the war zone be killed or injured, apart from highly valuing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other competent agencies for their efforts to protect and evacuate Vietnamese citizens from Ukraine.
The protection of the Vietnamese’s safety must be put first, the president stressed, assigning the relevant agencies to safely bring the Vietnamese out of the war zone.
The president also lauded the Government for its plan to launch free flights to bring back disadvantaged Vietnamese citizens to the country, proposing giving the priority to women, children and old people.
Speaking at the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine Nguyen Hong Thach said that most Vietnamese citizens in Ukraine had been evacuated from the war zone, while a few wanted to remain in Kharkov and Odessa to protect their assets and some others had traveled to rural areas.
As many as 7,000 Vietnamese people live in Ukraine, with many of them having moved from the country to other nations such as Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As of March 6, over 2,500 Vietnamese citizens had been evacuated from Ukraine to Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, the local media reported.
Among these people, more than 1,400 moving to Romania and Poland want to return to Vietnam.
Vietnam is set to launch some flights to the two nations to transport these citizens back to the homeland on March 8 and 9.
Earlier on March 3, the Government approved a plan to operate flights to evacuate Vietnamese people from Ukraine to the country.
