More than 300 Filipinos from Ukraine have returned to the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
A total of 329 overseas Filipinos from the war-stricken country have returned home while 41 nationals in various safe borders are awaiting repatriation as of Thursday, March 17.
The latest batch of repatriates are the 19 seafarers of Chariana L who arrived in the country on March 16.
At present, a total of 370 Filipinos have been taken out of Ukraine since the war started in February.
The DFA ordered alert level 4 or mandatory evacuation to Filipinos in all areas in Ukraine on March 7 due to the "rapidly deteriorating security situation" in the war-hit country.
It means that Filipinos in the foreign land are urged to return home at the government expense as soon as possible.
Since then, Filipinos exited the country and were evacuated to the closest safe borders such as Poland, Moldova, Romania, Austria, and Hungary.
Filipinos had to travel by land via train and bus to reach the safe borders where their repatriations will be processed later with the help of the concerned Philippine Embassy or Consulate in the country.
While hundreds of Filipinos have already returned home, some were hesitant to leave due to their families there and well-paying jobs.
READ MORE: Some Pinoys opt to stay in Ukraine due to well-paying jobs–DFA