Thousands of Ukrainian vacationers trapped abroad amid coronavirus pandemic

As the coronavirus pandemic reached Ukraine, paradise turned into limbo for thousands of Ukrainians on vacation abroad, especially in Asia.

The Ukrainian government banned most incoming air traffic to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and airlines raised prices for the few remaining flights allowing Ukrainians to return home.

Now, many Ukrainians are trapped in vacation destinations and watching their savings dwindle as they struggle to get home.

Khrystyna Krestinova, a hairdresser from Odesa, is stuck with her husband and two children on the island of Bali, Indonesia. They may have enough money to stay there for about two more weeks, but with prices as they are, the family cannot afford tickets home for four people.

“It’s great if you can afford to stay in this paradise (for quarantine) alone, but when you have children with their needs, it’s a whole different deal,” Krestinova, 31, told the Kyiv Post.

As of March 24, the two airlines currently operating in Ukraine have scheduled a couple of dozen flights for Ukrainians to return home. Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has flights from Amsterdam, Baku, Bangkok, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dubai, Frankfurt, London, New York, Paris and Toronto scheduled for March 24-28. 

Ukrainian low-cost carrier SkyUp has flights available from Almaty, Antalya, Berlin, Colombo, Delhi, Doha, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Istanbul, Larnaca, Munich, Paris, Prague, Stockholm, Tel-Aviv, Vienna, Warsaw, Yerevan and Zagreb for March 24-29.

Like some 1,000 other Ukrainians in Indonesia, Krestinova couldn’t buy return tickets during March 14-17, the three days that the Ukrainian government allocated for its citizens to return home. There were almost no flights available, except for a few with tickets costing over $4,000.

Krestinova bought return tickets for her family back in October, but the airline canceled them after Ukraine banned most incoming traffic on March 18 and airports on Bali suspended most flights on March 20.

But they are at least lucky that their visas are still valid. Previously, many Ukrainians had to pay around $60 for each day of overstay if they could not leave on time. Indonesia canceled the overstay fee were on March 24.

After March 17, the government provided special flights for Ukrainians returning from Asia at a discounted price of $160 from Istanbul, Turkey, one of 11 such hub-points. But getting to Istanbul from many Asian countries is not so easy.

For instance, a ticket from Indonesia to Istanbul would cost around $1,000 and take over 20 hours with transfers and layovers in other countries hit by the pandemic that has infected over 380,000 and killed more than 16,500 people worldwide. Some took that chance, but then Turkey suspended all flights to Ukraine on March 18.

On March 23, the Ukrainian government provided flights from Doha, Qatar for some $250. But getting to Doha from Indonesia costs around $2,000 on a 14-hour flight.

As a result, returning home from Indonesia would cost each Ukrainian around $2,250, more than what most of them paid for their whole vacation, according to travel agent Anastasia Shestopalova.

For Krestinova, getting her family home would cost $9,000.

“We hope for evacuation. In his last speech, the president said that all Ukrainians will be brought back and that there will be free evacuations from distant countries,” Krestinova says.

President Volodymyr Zelensky did say something to this end in a video address on March 17.

“Special flights will be sent to the places where our citizens are most concentrated to bring you home,” Zelensky said.

The government reported on March 18 that it has allocated $4.2 million for evacuation requests from 35,000 Ukrainians abroad.

But it seems Ukrainians will still have to pay for evacuation.

After about 700 Ukrainians in Sri Lanka joined together to address the government in Facebook posts and videos, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that it will send two or three flights operated by low-coster SkyUp for $500 per ticket, according to Oleh Papushenko, a Ukrainian screenwriter on vacation there.

Papushenko refuses to buy such a ticket. He says he already paid for his return ticket that the airline had to reschedule from March 31 to April 16 because the Ukrainian government closed most of the country’s air traffic. 

“I get the impression that this is more or less presented as ‘our MFA are good guys, they evacuate everyone.’ Despite the fact the people are buying this ‘evacuation,’” Papushenko wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka, which has 100 confirmed case of COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, imposed a curfew until March 24. It will be extended in some districts of the island at least until March 27.

Ukrainian Zhanna Saganiuk decided to buy the $500 tickets for her family of four, including a young daughter, because it’s currently the cheapest option. But she’s not happy that they have to pay for new tickets after their flights were canceled.

“They want to get at least €500 for every family member from people who are in distress for ‘salvation’ (while it’s twice as expensive as it should be!). Taxpayers are very worried that they will pay for our delivery out of their own pocket… but we are also taxpayers,” Saganiuk wrote on Facebook.

There were also reports of Ukrainians stuck in India, Thailand, Vietnam, Peru and other countries. Each of these places has been affected by the coronavirus and has put different measures in place to fight the pandemic.

Back in Indonesia, there are 686 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 55 deaths. Bali, especially crowded with tourists and without much testing being done, may become the hotspot for coronavirus in the country, experts say.

Krestinova is afraid that if her family gets sick, no one in Bali will help them. She says that healthcare there is far too expensive for them, since a mere medical examination costs around $100.

“We will feel safer when we are at home,” she says. “Just because it is our home country and we feel safer there than here.”