About 250 Thai workers in Ukraine, mostly in the spa and hospitality sector, have been advised to trek to the city of Lviv, near the Polish border. The Thai foreign affairs ministry says that a hotel has been nominated to help them get across the border in order to fly home. The Indian government has confirmed that several dozen of its own nationals have already made the journey from Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, to neighboring countries via both rail and road routes.
Pattaya resident Praisal Wuttipong said his brother, trapped in Ukraine, had managed to use his cell phone to make contact. He said he had managed to catch one of the last trains to leave Kiev before Russian troops neared the city. “Our group is trying to reach the hotel Cisar in Lviv as we have heard the Thai government is arranging a charter flight,” he said, adding that the fighting was restricted to certain urban or strategic areas.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian citizens still in Thailand are waiting for an announcement from the Thai government about visa extensions. Flights to Ukraine are currently suspended although routes between Bangkok and Moscow remain open. The Ukrainian embassy in Thailand, quoting senior diplomat Pavlo Orel, said that passports not able to be renewed at the present time. Some Thai immigration offices are awarding 60 day Covid extensions – technically available until late March – on the grounds of “flights unavailable”.
The Thai government has not committed publicly on the war in eastern Europe beyond suggesting a diplomatic solution without apportioning blame. This reflects the ambiguous Chinese position of both recognizing Ukrainian sovereignty and justifying the Russian invasion because of her security concerns arising from her neighbor’s pro-NATO stance.
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