Twenty-nine Ukrainians have registered at the Ukrainian Embassy in Libya as of Thursday morning for possible evacuation from Libya if the situation worsens in the country, according to Andriy Kliuyev, Ukraine's first vice premier and chairman of the working group on ensuring the safety of Ukrainian citizens in North Africa and the Middle East.
"Due to the planned arrival at Tripoli port of foreign ferries, the Ukrainian embassy will contribute to the evacuation of our countrymen by sea to Malta," Kliuyev was as saying by his press service.
Kliuyev also said that 401 Ukrainians had been evacuated from Libya since February 23: 279 on board Ukrainian planes and 122 on the transports of other states.
He said that Ukraine had also evacuated 166 foreign nationals (31 citizens each from Russia and Uzbekistan, 24 citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 citizens of Tajikistan, 12 citizens of Poland, nine citizens of Bulgaria, eight citizens each from Serbia and Kazakhstan, seven citizens of Belarus, four citizens each from Kyrgyzstan and the Czech Republic, two citizens each from Slovakia, Romania and Croatia, and one citizen each from Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Portugal, the United States and Libya).
Kliuyev also said that on March 2, under agreements reached with Britain, four citizens of Ukraine had been sent from the Libyan city of Benghazi to Malta on board the Royal Navy frigate HMS York.
In addition, on March 2, 20 citizens of Ukraine earlier evacuated from Libya were delivered to Moscow from Malta on board a Russian Emergencies Ministry plane.
"The Ukrainian Embassy in Russia will ensure their return to their homeland," Kliuyev said.
He said that eight Ukrainians, who were evacuated from Tripoli to Bucharest on Wednesday on board a Romanian Air Force aircraft, had arrived at Kyiv’s Boryspil Airport.
