Thais evacuated from Ukraine

Thais evacuated from Ukraine

Embassy arranges safe routes home

Ukranians hold up placards and national flags during a march from Lumpini Park to Benjakitti Park in central Bangkok on Sunday. The demonstrators demanded an immediate end to Russia's attack on Ukraine. (Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
Ukranians hold up placards and national flags during a march from Lumpini Park to Benjakitti Park in central Bangkok on Sunday. The demonstrators demanded an immediate end to Russia's attack on Ukraine. (Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool)

Forty-seven Thais arrived at the help centre in the Ukrainian city of Lviv with more on their way on Sunday, according to the Thai embassy in Warsaw, the capital of neighbouring Poland.

On its Facebook page, the embassy, which is making arrangements to evacuate Thais from a Ukraine currently under attack from Russian military forces, said 47 reached Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine on Sunday.

A help centre has been set up in the city from which a chartered bus will transport the Thais to Warsaw.

The embassy said 43 more Thais have arrived in Lviv on Sunday.

Thais at cities in other parts of the Ukraine have confirmed they are safe, the embassy reported.

However, there are still around 100 Thais who remain confined to their homes or accommodation due to security lockdowns in a number of other cities, including Mykolayiv and Kharkiv, the embassy posted.

In the capital, Kyiv, 102 of 148 of the Thais living there left already, with 43 having arrived at the centre in Lviv.

About 40 Thais, mostly women married to Ukrainians, are choosing to remain in Kyiv with their families, although their husbands were being enlisted to fight in the war.

The Thai embassy in Warsaw said it has devised two evacuation routes for Thais.

The first, which began operating on Sunday, took 41 Thais to the city of Odessa in the south of the country, the embassy said.

They were then escorted across the border into neighbouring Romania.

From there, the group was bussed to Bucharest so they could catch commercial flights bound for Thailand tomorrow and Wednesday.

Also on Sunday, the 43 Thais who arrived in Lviv were bussed to Warsaw, with another group expected to make the same journey today.

Commercial flights to Bangkok are being booked for this route home from Warsaw on March 1-4.

Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed the Labour Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry to offer assistance to Thais trapped by the conflict and provide all necessary assistance to first get them to safety at the centre in Lviv.

The Department of Employment has been in touch with the families of Thai workers in Ukraine to inform them of their right to financial assistance from the fund for overseas Thai workers.

Meanwhile, in Bangkok on Sunday, group of 50 mostly Ukrainians and Belarusians staged a symbolic walk in protest against the Russian attack on Ukraine from Lumpini Park to Benjakitti Park on Ratchadaphisek Road.

Roman Rak, a Ukrainian who joined the march, said the demonstrators were adamant that Russia must immediately withdraw its troops and leave the country alone.

Around 5pm, the group ended the peaceful demonstration after singing the Ukrainian national anthem.

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