Thais arrive from Ukraine and Russia asks Thais not to join the fight. On Saturday, 61 Thai evacuees landed at Suvarnabhumi airport. Before boarding a trip to Thailand, the first group of 16 traveled from Bucharest, Romania, to Zurich, Switzerland. On Thai Airways International aircraft TG 971, they arrived at Suvarnabhumi at 6.50 a.m.
According to Chatchai Viriyavejakul, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Consular Affairs, the second group of 45 landed at Suvarnabhumi around 12:05 p.m. on Emirates aircraft EK 384 from Warsaw.
As part of Covid-19 prevention efforts, everyone was given RT-PCR testing upon arrival. They then boarded buses for a one-day quarantine at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute in Nonthaburi, pending test results.
Mr. Chatchai stated that the Thai embassies in Bucharest and Warsaw have been aiding the 256 Thais who have tried to leave Ukraine, with 203 having returned home thus far.
The Russian embassy in Bangkok has issued a warning to Thai people from fighting alongside Ukrainians. The Russian Defense Ministry strongly cautions against such engagement in foreign military actions. This is according to a message posted on the embassy’s Facebook page on Saturday.
Last week, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, issued a plea to international nationals to assist the country in fighting Russia’s incursion, which some have compared to a war. According to the Russian embassy, such mercenaries do not qualify as combatants under international humanitarian law and hence cannot be awarded prisoner-of-war status.