About 90 more Ukrainian citizens remain in Afghanistan – Foreign Ministry

About 90 Ukrainian citizens remain in Afghanistan, and diplomats are working on possible ways to evacuate them, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko has told Ukrinform.

"About 90 Ukrainian citizens continue to remain in Afghanistan. The Foreign Ministry and our embassy in Tajikistan, together with other relevant agencies, are currently working on possible ways to evacuate our citizens from Afghanistan, in particular with the involvement of Western partners," Nikolenko said.

He added that the priority was to evacuate Ukrainian citizens and their families in safe conditions.

"But we do not rule out the evacuation of foreigners for humanitarian reasons if there are opportunities for this," he said.

Nikolenko recalled that Ukraine had already made three evacuation flights after the aggravation of the situation in Afghanistan. In particular, 41 Ukrainians and 57 Afghans were evacuated on August 23.

Kabul airport has plunged into chaos since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital on August 15 and proclaimed the formation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Many countries, including Ukraine, send planes to Kabul to evacuate citizens.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was coordinating efforts to ensure the evacuation of people from the airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The radical Islamic Taliban movement may ban evacuations from Kabul after August 31.

op