Filipinos who are still in Ukraine are asked to leave the war-stricken country before the trains going to Lviv from Kyiv stop operating, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday, March 4.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said that there are still 116 Filipinos left in Ukraine, 45 of them are still in Kyiv while "a very few" are in other parts of Ukraine, who are either working for humanitarian organizations or working for security organizations in Europe.

While the department respects the decision of some of them to stay in the foreign land, Arriola encouraged the rest to immediately leave the country and be evacuated to the nearest safe border.

"We are really asking them to please leave because the problem is the fighting is getting more intense and we're afraid of is if the train stops operating, there's no other way to get from Kyiv to Lviv," Arriola said in an ANC interview.

"But we understand some can’t leave because they have their families there," she said.

Another scenario the DFA and the Philippine Embassy want to avoid is Filipinos crossing the border on foot when the train system stops operating due to the fighting.

"That's actually what we're trying to avoid--for Filipinos to experience that (crossing borders on foot). That's why we are using our diplomatic cover to be able to have them cross faster and safely. That's why we are maintaining our presence in Lviv," Arriola said.

"The only way to get to Lviv is by train. There's no other means of transportation anymore," she added.

To date, 19 Filipinos from Ukraine were already repatriated to the Philippines, 19 were evacuated to Poland on March 2, four were evacuated to Romania, 27 are in Moldova, 15 are in Hungary, and nine are in Austria.

Arriola disclosed that the 21 seafarers, who are currently in Moldova, will arrive in the Philippines over the weekend.

It was also bared that some Filipino seafarers, who are not based in Ukraine, have their ships stranded in the Black Sea in the Port of Ukraine.

"This is more complicated," Arriola said. "It is possible that there are around 200 Filipino seafarers who are stranded."

She said the Foreign Affairs department is already coordinating with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the seafarers' manning agencies if the workers could be evacuated.

"If there’s really heavy fire, the only thing they can do is hunker down and take cover because the one who might extract them might get killed or if they leave the ships they might also get hurt," she said.