Jakarta (ANTARA) - Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi reported that out of the total of 165 Indonesian citizens in Ukraine, as many as 133 had left the country.

"We are grateful that as of today, all Indonesians, who were keen to be evacuated (from Ukraine), are now safe in Indonesia. Of the total 165 Indonesian citizens, 133 have left Ukraine," the minister noted during the Working Meeting of Commission I of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) at the Parliament Complex here on Wednesday.

Marsudi explained that the 133 Indonesians comprised 80 people evacuated to Indonesia aboard a plane and five people evacuated to Bucharest, though they decided to return to their countries of residence, such as Russia, Turkey, Denmark, and Qatar.

Subsequently, 34 Indonesian citizens were evacuated in a follow-up evacuation batch, 12 people evacuated independently to various countries, and two people did not report but were already in Indonesia, the minister elaborated.

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"Meanwhile, 32 Indonesian citizens chose to stay in Ukraine, comprising 23 people (who opted to stay) due to personal reasons and the rest are staff of the Indonesian Embassy," she added.

The minister admitted that it was challenging to evacuate people from Ukraine amid the war.

Marsudi cited as an example that it took 22 days to evacuate nine Indonesians from Chernihiv. Nevertheless, the evacuation went smoothly due to the cooperation with ministries and agencies and the support from Indonesians.

The working meeting with Commission I of the DPR RI was led by Deputy Chairman of Commission I of the DPR RI, Abdul Kharis Almasyhari. The working meeting planned to discuss the realization and evaluation of the 2021 FY State Budget's implementation and protection of Indonesian citizens and Indonesian legal entities in Ukraine, among others.

The third topic of discussion was Indonesia's diplomacy related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict while the fourth pertained to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' explanation regarding the Special Procedures Mandate Holders (SPMH) concerning several cases of alleged enforced disappearances, excessive use of force, torture, and forced displacement in Papua and West Papua provinces.

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Translator: Imam Budilaksono, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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