3,500 Vietnamese leave Ukraine, reach neighboring countries

By Vu Anh March 7, 2022 | 06:26 pm PT

The Vietnamese embassy and community in Hungary help Vietnamese citizens to be evacuated from Ukraine, March 5, 2022. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Over 3,500 ethnic Vietnamese have evacuated Ukraine since Russia began its attack nearly two weeks earlier.

As of 6 p.m. Monday 2,200 Vietnamese had arrived in Poland, 830 in Romania, 310 in Hungary, 100 in Slovakia, and 20 in Russia, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A flight left Hanoi for the Romanian capital Bucharest on Monday to repatriate 283 Vietnamese nationals. It is expected to return on Tuesday. Another flight is expected to leave on Wednesday for Warsaw, Poland, to repatriate 270 more people.

Before the conflict between Ukraine and Russia broke out, around 7,000 Vietnamese lived in Ukraine, mostly in major cities like Kyiv (around 800), Kharkiv (3,000) and Odessa (3,000).

Russia began a "special military operation" for the "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine."

Negotiations are ongoing between the two countries.