Photo taken on Feb. 24, 2022 shows long lines of vehicles heading out of the city in Kiev, Ukraine.(Photo: Xinhua)

China evacuated the first batch of its citizens from Ukraine on Monday, including over 400 Chinese students from Odessa and 200 from Kiev. There will be nearly 1,000 more Chinese citizens to be evacuated from Ukraine on Tuesday to neighboring countries such as Poland and Slovakia, the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine said. 

Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Fan Xianrong saw the students off from Kiev on Monday, wishing them a safe journey. They traveled by bus to neighboring Moldova, with escorts of embassy staff and local police protecting them for the entire ride. 

One of the 200 evacuees surnamed Liu told the Global Times on Tuesday that they safely arrived in Moldova after six hours of drive, and thanks to the escorts by the embassy staff, their trip was safe and smooth. 

Liu added that since there are too many people crowded in Moldova, they are considering further moving to Romania. 

In a notice issued on Monday afternoon the embassy said a number of neighboring countries including Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland will provide assistance to Chinese nationals coming from Ukraine. Under the embassy's coordination, these countries will facilitate Chinese nationals' entrance by granting temporary visa-free access to valid passport-holders, or offering assistance at customs clearance for a fast entrance. 

The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine has carried out a series of works concerning the evacuation. Given the fast-changing situation in Ukraine, the embassy has set up 24/7 communication mechanisms by providing additional contact channels. Since Friday after the embassy issued an emergency notice on evacuating Chinese nationals, they are receiving more than 1,000 calls per day for inquiries. 

There are now over 6,000 Chinese nationals registered for evacuation, the Global Times has learned, and the embassy is calling each one of them for confirmation to make sure they depart the country safely and timely. 

The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine is mulling alternative plans to evacuate local Chinese apart from charter flights amid the deteriorating situation in the country, and as long as safety premises are met, they will immediately take action and implement the evacuation plan, the embassy told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Sunday.

The Russian and Ukrainian delegations held talks in the Gomel region of Belarus. The two sides said after the meeting that they had identified key points for future consensus. The next round of talks will be held in the near future on the border between Belarus and Poland.