The Vietnamese Embassy is urgently taking steps to evacuate about 300 Vietnamese citizens from eastern Ukraine where the fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists has been escalating.

>> Ukraine says military plane 'likely' shot down from Russia >> Russia threatens Ukraine after shell crosses border In an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Monday, Nguyen Minh Tri, the Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine, said the evacuation is being conducted according to a plan recently approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Accordingly, a number of Vietnamese citizens have moved out of eastern Ukraine or returned to Vietnam, but many others stayed in the region as they have jobs and business activities there, Ambassador Tri said. As the fighting situation in eastern Ukraine has worsened, the embassy has called on all Vietnamese citizens who are still in the region to leave it soon for safety reasons, the ambassador said.

“The embassy has urgently taken all necessary actions to protect and help Vietnamese people here,” Tri said. Specifically, the embassy has coordinated with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transport to evacuate about 300 Vietnamese citizens in Donetsk. The Vietnamese diplomatic mission has also set up a reception committee in Kiev, where the evacuated people will be received and given temporary accommodation inside the embassy, the ambassador said. He added that two families and a number of students have moved to the embassy while waiting to return to Vietnam. Besides the embassy, the Vietnamese community in Ukraine’s capital, including Vietnamese-owned companies, have also prepared to receive the evacuated people, he said.

“Currently, our leading and urgent task is to protect the safety and security of Vietnamese citizens,” the ambassador stressed. Ung Quoc Binh, a member of the community evacuation board under the embassy, said the agency has made a concrete plan to provide accommodation and food for the evacuated.

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