Thirteen Filipinos from Ukraine are expected to arrive in the Philippines Tuesday evening, March 1, a Filipino diplomat said.

Philippine Ambassador to Poland Leah Basinang-Ruiz confirmed during a televised interview that the second batch of Filipino nationals had departed Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland Monday, Feb. 28, and will arrive in Manila on Tuesday night.

This was also confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), saying the new batch of repatriates is part of the 40 evacuees who left Kyiv for Lviv and were welcomed by DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. at the Poland border.

According to the DFA, the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw facilitated their travel, flight documents, as well as their stay in a hotel in Warsaw.

All repatriation expenses, including transport expenses from Kyiv to Warsaw, food and accommodation in Lviv and Warsaw, RT-PCR test, and airfare to Manila were shouldered by the DFA’s Assistance-to-Nationals fund.

Ruiz disclosed that a third batch of Filipinos from the war-hit country "will cross the border from Lviv to Warsaw by Tuesday or Wednesday."

At present, 215 Filipino nationals have been accounted for in Ukraine. This is also the number of nationals who have already reached out to the DFA and Philippine Embassy, Ruiz said.

The ambassador said despite some Filipinos choosing to stay with their families and employers in the foreign land amid the tension with Russia, they are hopeful that many more Filipinos will reach out to them in the coming days.

"Talagang hindi natin maia-avoid, talagang syempre binibigyan ng choice ang mga Pilipino. May mga maiiwan pa talaga sa Ukraine na talagang gusto nilang doon na lang muna kung saan safe sila na lugar (We cannot really avoid it and of course we let them have their choices. Some will really be left in Ukraine who want to stay still in places there were they feel safe)," Ruiz said.

She, however, assured the public that they the line of communication between the embassy and Filipinos in Ukraine will remain open.

"So we are always in contact with them at gustong ipa-assure sa ating mga kababayan na nandiyan kami sa Lviv, nakahanda kami para abangan kung may gustong magpatulong na umuwi or lumikas sa safe na lugar (and we want to assure our fellowmen in Lviv that we are ready to wait for calls of help for repatriation and evacuation)," she said.

The Filipino diplomat also assured that while the situation in Ukraine escalates, transporting of Filipinos from there to Poland is "well-organized."