Evacuation of Ukrainians from Afghanistan: more than 150 people asked for help, Foreign Ministry working on two plans

The Foreign Ministry expects the evacuation to take place “in the near future.”

On the night of August 16, a Ukrainian plane evacuated 79 people from Kabul, including eight Ukrainians and citizens of other countries, in particular from Afghanistan. Today more than 150 Ukrainian citizens have approached diplomats wishing to evacuate from Afghanistan, where power has passed to the Taliban. 

How many Ukrainians have asked for help

On August 17, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Facebook: “Latest data: 153 Ukrainians have contacted diplomats and asked for help returning home.” 

According to him, these are citizens of Ukraine who are at a military base where they worked under contract, Ukrainians of Afghan origin who were visiting relatives, businesspeople and other citizens of the country. 

Dmytro Kuleba
Foreign Minister of Ukraine

The most difficult thing now is for them to reach Kabul airport. Information on social media and in some media outlets about Ukrainians being abandoned by the state is a lie. I understand that emotions are running high, someone is deliberately stirring things up, someone is scared, and someone is trying to show that they know the solution to all problems but is not being heard. We are in constant contact with everyone who makes themselves known. We know where everyone is, and we know that there is no direct threat to citizens’ lives for now. 

“Ukrainian military abandoned to their fate” in Afghanistan

Kuleba, speaking on the 1+1 channel, called on the media to stop spreading the fake claim that 12 Ukrainian servicemen had been abandoned to their fate in Afghanistan. He noted that these are private individuals who went there to earn money. 

Today they are concentrated at a military base that the Taliban have seized. However, the Foreign Ministry is in contact with them and is ready to evacuate them, as well as all other citizens of Ukraine, as soon as the opportunity arises. 

Dmytro Kuleba
Foreign Minister of Ukraine

There are no members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the National Guard of Ukraine in Afghanistan. These are private individuals who were hired under private contracts to work in Afghanistan (former military personnel or former civil aviation pilots). But they are not servicemen at all. <...> We are in contact with them, and we are making every effort to get them out of this base. The base is near Kabul, but since it is a military facility, the Taliban have taken control of it. These are not the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but they are citizens of Ukraine, and we will help them all the same. Whether there is hysteria or not, we will calmly do our job. 

On Facebook, the minister said that on August 18 he spoke by phone with one of these 12 citizens and had a substantive conversation. 

There are hundreds of people at the base holding citizenship of many countries. Ukrainians are showing themselves to be organized, disciplined and capable of leadership. Kuleba noted that it is impossible to simply walk out of the base. A corridor is needed, and that is a separate issue. 

There is currently no direct threat to the life and safety of Ukrainians. The issue is under special control. A calm negotiation process on departure routes is underway, without conflicts or any intimidation. 

“We will bring the guys out, either ourselves or the companies under whose contract they and other foreigners worked at the base. Under any scenario, we will provide full support,” the minister said. 

Two plans for evacuating Ukrainians from Afghanistan

The Foreign Ministry is working on two options for evacuating Ukrainians from Kabul: by the plane already there, or by a Defense Ministry plane that took off from Kyiv. The Foreign Ministry’s press secretary said this in a comment to UP. 

Oleg Nikolenko
Press Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine

We are working on two plans: evacuating citizens by the plane that is already at Kabul airport, and evacuation by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense plane that took off from Kyiv today.

According to him, Ukrainian diplomats are solving three tasks:

1. A safe corridor for access to the airport, since the situation remains partly uncontrolled. Part of the airport is closed, and another part is controlled by foreign troops, with a number of checkpoints set up on the approaches to the airport. 
2. Safe boarding of people onto the plane and its technical preparation. 
3. Obtaining permission for takeoff and a safe exit of the plane from Afghan territory. 

Nikolenko noted that the evacuation will begin after these issues are resolved, and he hopes this will happen “in the near future.”