Close to 200 Filipinos have been taken out of Ukraine amid the ongoing war between that country and Russia, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday, March 8.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola disclosed that a total of 199 Filipinos in Ukraine have been either sent back home or are seeking refuge in various borders near the war-stricken country while waiting for repatriation.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 63 overseas Filipinos were already repatriated to the Philippines while six nationals are evacuated to Poland, 33 are currently in Moldova, 73 in Romania, nine in Austria, and 15 in Hungary.
DFA REAL NUMBERS of Repatriated Filipinos in Ukraine as of 8 March 2022, 5:00 pm: @teddyboylocsin @DFAPHL pic.twitter.com/nJp3rS5yNk
— Sarah Lou Ysmael Arriola (@slyarriola) March 8, 2022
Twenty-one Filipino seafarers, who were stranded at the Port of Odessa in Ukraine, arrived in Manila Tuesday morning. They were evacuated to Moldova prior to coming back to the country.
On Sunday, March 6, three groups of Filipino evacuees with their dependents, also arrived in Manila. They came from Kyiv and other areas in the western part of Ukraine.
The first group includes four Filipino adults with three Filipino-Ukrainian children with their three Ukrainian mothers. The second group consists of two Filipino adults, a Filipino-Ukranian child, and his Ukrainian mother while the third group includes three Filipino nationals from Kyiv who arrived on their own arrangements.
The DFA raised alert level 4 for Filipino nationals in all areas in Ukraine on Monday, March 7, due to the “rapidly deteriorating security situation” in the war-stricken country.
This means that a mandatory evacuation of all Filipinos in the foreign land is enforced.
READ MORE: DFA enforces mandatory evacuation of Filipinos in Ukraine; crisis Alert Level 4 raised