Uzbekistan, remaining committed to active interaction with foreign states and international organizations on the issues of ensuring the rights and protecting the interests of its citizens, these days is implementing with particular intensity a set of measures to support and repatriate thousands of compatriots left in a difficult life situation in Ukraine.
Despite all the complexity, in the context of ongoing active hostilities in Ukraine, the diplomatic missions of Uzbekistan are working to evacuate their citizens. The teams of embassies in Ukraine and Poland are working in an enhanced mode. The country’s diplomatic mission in Kyiv has organized the work of a round-the-clock headquarters, which includes both diplomats and representatives of the diaspora. They carry out systematic work on the formation and replenishment of the list of evacuated Uzbek citizens.
A group of volunteers has also been organized in Moldova, who are engaged in coordinating and solving the problems of compatriots. A list and a database of Uzbeknationals in Moldova are being formed to organize their subsequent evacuation to their homeland.
As of March 11, 25 evacuation flights were carried out by Uzbekistan Airways aircrafts, 5634 citizens of Uzbekistan were evacuated from the combat zone in Ukraine through Poland and Romania, 23 Uzbek students were evacuated from the Ukrainian city of Sumy to Lviv.
On March 8-9, 250 people were brought from the airport of the Polish Katowice, including 62 women, 28 children and 8 babies.
On March 9, 245 citizens of Uzbekistan were returned from Ukraine through the airport of Katowice (Poland), including 35 women, 20 children and 3 babies.
98 citizens of Uzbekistan, who were on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, crossed the Moldovan-Romanian border accompanied by diplomats of Uzbekistan and on March 10 flew back to their homeland on a special flight from the airport in Bucharest.
On March 11, 254 people were brought from the airport of the Polish Katowice, including 69 women, 37 children and 14 babies.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, work on the removal of citizens from various parts of Ukraine continues with an emphasis on the evacuation of compatriots in remote areas on the line of hostilities. Diplomats of Uzbekistan are also in Moldova to study the issue of evacuation of compatriots from this country.
Earlier, more than 200 of our citizens living in the border regions of Ukraine with Moldova moved to the Moldovan side in search of asylum. The Moldovan side, for reasons of humanity, assists in the transportation, accommodation and meals of all persons arriving in its territory, regardless of their nationality.
The Embassy of Uzbekistan in Ukraine has organized a group of volunteers in Moldova who are engaged in coordinating and solving the problems of compatriots. A list and a database of Uzbeks in Moldova are being formed to organize their subsequent evacuation to their homeland.
Another 270 people are waiting to fly out of Poland, including 50 who are on the border with Ukraine.
It is also said that on the territory of Poland there are 220 citizens and another 50 compatriots on the Ukrainian-Polish border.
In order to provide assistance to citizens in the cities of Kherson and Kharkov, Uzbek diplomats have begun work on organizing a humanitarian corridor in the direction of Russia.
The diplomatic missions of Uzbekistan, together with the involved structures of the country, continue to work on evacuation and interaction in this direction with external partners. In addition to the evacuation of their compatriots, the forces involved are also ready to provide assistance to citizens of the neighboring republics of Uzbekistan who find themselves in a difficult situation.
It should be noted that the authorities of Uzbekistan consider the main task to be to support their citizens and have extensive experience in evacuating compatriots from hot spots. Thus, in recent years, the republic has carried out 5 Mehr operations to return its citizens from the zones of armed conflicts in the countries of the Middle East and Afghanistan. At the same time, assistance to citizens was not only limited to export to their homeland, but was also accompanied by the provision of medical, psychological, material and moral assistance, assistance in their speedy rehabilitation and reintegration into society.