Photo: Li Hao/GT

 The Chinese Foreign Ministry once again reminded Chinese nationals to establish contact with the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine and evacuate from the nation as soon as possible, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said on Thursday. 

Speaking at a news conference on the sideline of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Thursday, Ma said that the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine is arranging Chinese nationals' evacuation from Ukraine, considering the current situation in the country. 

He reminded the Chinese nationals in Ukraine to strengthen their safety precautions and be prepared, and to establish contact with the Chinese Embassy and make evacuations as soon as possible.

Over the past few days, both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine have been sending intensive security alerts to Chinese citizens in Ukraine and reminding them to evacuate in time amid a grim security situation. 

On Wednesday, the embassy released specific evacuation guidelines for Chinese nationals who want to leave the country. Chinese nationals are recommended to return to China via a third country, either by taking commercial flights or charter flights. The registration for seats on charter flights is open for signing up, the embassy said. On October 15, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called upon the Chinese nationals still in Ukraine to strengthen security precautions and evacuate the country.

After the evacuation mission in March, a small number of Chinese nationals have returned to Ukraine for business or for school. Those who are still in the country are mostly students, businessmen or enterprise staffers.

As of Thursday, a total of 219 people had registered on the form the embassy sent out for organized evacuations, and another 62 registered on the form for self-evacuation, according to a Global Times' count of the registration on the embassy's WeChat account.

Global Times