Ninety Ukrainian citizens and their families remain in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba told Ukrainian news outlet UNIAN on Aug 25, 2021.
While the Ukrainian government has successfully evacuated over 250 Ukrainians, Afghans and foreigners on three flights since the Taliban took Kabul on Aug. 15, Kuleba is now warning that the situation at the Kabul Airport has become difficult.
Security at Kabul Airport has deteriorated significantly, he said. Against the backdrop of the Taliban’s Aug. 31 deadline for the completion of all foreign airlifts out of Afghanistan, foreign military personnel at the airfield are now being warned of an “imminent” terrorist threat, multiple media outlets reported.
“The situation at Kabul Airport has become much more complicated,” Kuleba told reporters. “Some countries are already abandoning evacuation flights, so that they cannot guarantee their safety.”
On Aug 26, the Danish defence minister warned that it was “no longer safe to fly in or out of Kabul.” Many countries have now suspended flights, or are rushing to finish up evacuations due to a growing risk to foreign personnel.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that France could no longer evacuate people from Afghanistan, stating that all flights would be halted from Aug 27.
French aircraft were photographed deploying flares on take-off to avoid attack by surface to air rockets, and U.S military aircraft are now conducting nose-dive landings to minimise the risk of coming under fire.
Nevertheless, according to Kuleba, Ukraine will continue to organize flights, even as developed western nations scramble to pull out of the country.
“Right now we are doing this, organizing the next evacuation flight. Ukraine will never abandon its own,” Kuleba said. “We will not stop returning citizens until we are sure that everyone who wanted to leave has been taken away.”
According to the minister, Ukraine has conducted an extremely successful evacuation program so far. He now states that Ukraine is receiving requests from international organizations and other nations to help airlift their citizens from Afghanistan, however Ukrainian citizens will remain a priority in the evacuations.
On Ukraine’s first evacuation flight, it succeeded in evacuating 79 people, including Ukrainian, Afghan, Belarusian, Dutch, Croat and Tajik nationals.
