Evacuation Of Indonesian Citizens From Ukraine: Long Lines At The Border, Tens Of Hours In Vehicles To Change Of Lane

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has succeeded in evacuating 99 Indonesian citizens (WNI) from Ukraine, temporarily in two safe locations in Romania and Poland, said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

Foreign Minister Retno said the situation in Ukraine is still very dynamic and changing rapidly. This situation, he said, greatly influenced the efforts of the Indonesian government to evacuate Indonesian citizens.

"99 Indonesian citizens have left Ukraine, once again, including 5 Indonesian citizens who evacuated independently. And now they are at two safe points, namely in Bucharest, Romania and in Rzeszow, Poland," said Foreign Minister Retno in a virtual press statement Tuesday. March 1st.

This evacuation process takes place in stages from different regions and times, considering that Indonesian citizens in Ukraine are scattered in several cities.

He further explained that the first evacuation process took place for 25 Indonesian citizens from Odessa to Bucharest, Romania on 27 February. Arriving at 16.30 local time, all the Indonesian citizens who were evacuated were women, including one child aged around 12 years.

"Our evacuation team moved from Tulcea, the Romanian-Moldova border on Saturday, February 26, at 06.00 am and finally arrived back in Bucharest on February 27 at 16.30 local time," said Foreign Minister Retno.

Map of the distribution of Indonesian citizens in Ukraine. (Source: Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

"The total journey time taken by the evacuation team is about 35 hours by bus. In normal times we get information, the journey time is no more than 10 hours."

"The evacuation team also passed 5 checks and check points in the territory of Ukraine. At the border there was a queue of cars for more than 10 km. From observations, the cars that were queuing up had been at the border for 2 days. But thank God, the evacuation was able to penetrate the queue for about 4.5 hours. One Indonesian citizen tested positive (COVID-19) and has received treatment," said Foreign Minister Retno.

The next evacuation was carried out on six Indonesian citizens and one foreigner who was the husband of an Indonesian citizen on February 27, from Lviv to Rzeszow, Poland.

The six Indonesian citizens, Foreign Minister Retno continued, consist of two adult women, three children and one baby. The Indonesian Embassy in Warsaw team departed from the safe house in Rzeszow at 07.30 in the morning, and was able to arrive back with Indonesian evacuees around 20.45 in the evening.

"Like the Romanian border line, this route also experiences very long queues, which is up to 30 km, especially in border areas. Currently, they are in Rzeszow in good health," explained Foreign Minister Retno.

The next evacuation involved four Indonesian citizens (two men and two children) and two foreigners (partners of Indonesian citizens) who were also picked up by the Indonesian Embassy in Warsaw from Ternopil, Lviv (Ukraine) to Poland, with a distance of 150 km.

"They have now arrived at the safe house in Rzeszow, Poland on February 28, 2022 at 19.40 local time. The group had queued at the Polish check point border for approximately 2 hours before finally being able to enter Poland," he said.

Map of evacuation of Indonesian citizens in Ukraine. (Source: Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

The largest group of Indonesian citizens who were evacuated from Ukraine reached 59 people and one foreigner from Kyiv, who was successfully crossed to Moldova and is currently on his way to Romania.

According to Foreign Minister Retno, the evacuation from Kiev was previously planned to be carried out on February 27, 2022, passing through the city of Lviv to Poland. However, due to the curfew policy and several road infrastructure challenges caused by the war, the evacuation had to be reorganized.

"I myself was directly involved in rearranging the safe route for evacuees from Kiev. We finally determined the route we took after we carried out comparison notes consultations with many parties, including my communication with several foreign ministers, including or in particular the Turkish Foreign Minister and India, which is experiencing more or less the same situation," said the Foreign Minister.

"Thank God the evacuation was finally carried out on February 28 by taking the southern route via the city of Vinnytsia to Bucharest Romania via or via Moldova. Evacuation using 12 cars with many using alternative routes to avoid queues and traffic jams on the main route."

"The group departed from the Indonesian Embassy in Kyiv at around 11.30 and arrived at the Moldova border at 22.00 or around 03.00 in the morning, March 1, Jakarta time," he continued.

Foreign Minister Retno added, before the group departed from Kiev, she had time to communicate by telephone with the evacuees and all trips were monitored closely.