04 March 2022
Ukraine conflict: Monitoring evacuation of foreign nationals from Ukraine
by Caron Natasha Tauro
An Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster at Hindon Air Force station in Ghaziabad, India, on 3 March 2022. The aircraft carried 200 Indians, mostly students, who were stranded in Ukraine. This was the first evacuation flight to reach India from Romania. (Amarjeet Kumar Singh/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Ukraine has a large student population from countries such as China, India, Nigeria, Philippines, and Thailand. India had 20,000 nationals in Ukraine at the time of the Russian invasion on 24 February, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). A Straits Times article on 26 February reported that China had 6,000 nationals in Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa, and Sumy. Thailand had 250 nationals, Indonesia had 138, and the Philippines had 350 nationals in Ukraine.
Foreign nationals who have not been able to leave Ukraine, continue to post videos on social media urging their respective governments to help them evacuate. In the second round of negotiations held in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Belarus, on 3 March, Russia and Ukraine agreed to create a humanitarian corridor to facilitate the evacuation of civilians.
Evacuation activities
Poland, Moldova, and Romania are the three main points of entry for Ukrainian refugees and foreign nationals seeking repatriation from Ukraine.
India launched ‘Operation Ganga' on 27 February to evacuate its nationals. According to the MEA, 12,000 Indian nationals left Ukraine as of 1 March, and the ministry was co-ordinating with Indian embassies in Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia to evacuate the remaining 40% of Indian nationals in Ukraine.
The Indian government sent four cabinet ministers to Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia to co-ordinate the evacuation efforts on the ground. Since 1 March, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has joined the evacuation efforts along with airlines such as the national carrier Air India, and SpiceJet. Approximately 6,400 Indians were evacuated and brought back to India by 3 March. As of 4 March, the IAF flew seven C-17 aircraft with 9.7 tons of humanitarian relief material for Ukraine to airfields in Hungary, Poland, and Romania, and evacuated 1,428 Indians.
During a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 March, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that more than 3,000 Indian students had been “taken hostage by Ukrainian security forces in Kharkiv”. Russian Ministry of Defence spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said in a press briefing, reported by TASS on 2 March, that the students were held in Kharkiv and Ukrainian authorities were asking them to leave the country by crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border where hostilities were raging. He also claimed that the “Russian Armed Forces are ready to take all necessary measures to safely evacuate Indian citizens and send them home from Russian territory on our military transport planes or Indian aircraft, as was suggested by the Indian side”. However, on 3 March, the MEA repeated its rejection of this claim stating that it had not received any reports of a hostage situation involving students.
Despite evacuation efforts, a student was killed during shelling in Kharkiv on 1 March. In addition, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Gen (Retd) VK Singh, who is co-ordinating evacuation efforts in Poland, said that a student was shot in Kyiv on 3 March, according to an ANI report.
China issued the first advisory on 25 February, urging its nationals to register for chartered flights arranged by the government via the official WeChat account of the Chinese embassy in Ukraine. On 28 February, Global Times reported that the first batch of 600 students had been safely evacuated to Moldova from Kyiv and Odessa. They were taken to Romania before leaving for China, according to the same report. Chinese state news CCTV issued another advisory on 1 March, urging Chinese nationals to leave via special trains to neighbouring countries.
Pakistan issued an advisory on 28 February urging students to take the first available train from Kharkiv to Ternopil, where embassy officials would co-ordinate the repatriation. Pakistan has evacuated 1,435 nationals, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson's Twitter handle as of 4 March. A tweet on 3 March said that 40 Pakistani nationals remained in Ukraine, while 20 were on their way to the borders. According to the twitter handle of the Pakistani embassy in Ukraine, 98% of its nationals were evacuated by 4 March.
Thailand successfully evacuated 142 nationals from Ukraine to Warsaw and Budapest, according to the twitter account of the Thai embassy in Warsaw, on 1 March. Thai nationals who were still in Ukraine were advised to move towards Lviv, in Western Ukraine.
Indonesia announced the successful evacuation of 179 Indonesians and their foreign spouses between 1 and3 March. The national carrier Garuda Indonesia flew from Bucharest, Romania, to Tangerang, Banten, with 80 nationals on 3 March. According to a Straits Times report on 3 March, 17 evacuees were unable to board the flight back to Indonesia because of health complications, including some who tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, and had to stay back in Bucharest.
A Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) press release confirmed the successful repatriation of 19 nationals from Ukraine as of 2 March. In addition, 21 Filipino seafarers were evacuated from Chornomosk, Ukraine, to Moldova on 2 March, according to the DFA. They were part of an all-Filipino crew of the bulk carrier MV S-Breeze , which had been drydocked at the Ilyichevsk Shipyard in Odessa since 27 January.
Nigeria appointed its national airlines Air Peace and Max Air on evacuation missions to Poland on 2 March. The first Air Peace evacuation flight on 3 March was cancelled because the aircraft overstayed its allotted duty hours, according to international standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Flight and duty time limitations are standards set to ensure that aircrew fatigue does not decrease flight safety. However, the flight was rescheduled for early morning on 4 March from Warsaw to Abuja.
Other countries who have issued advisories to its nationals include Tunisia and Sudan , who have stated that evacuation efforts are under way and they are co-ordinating with Romanian and Polish authorities, as of 4 March.
Author
Caron Natasha Tauro is a Janes manager for Research and Analysis. Data contribution by Utkal Triphay, manager of Janes Central Events Team, and Philippa Corsie, Janes sourcing analyst.
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Ukraine has a large student population from countries such as China, India, Nigeria, Philippines, an...
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