Ecuador’s second repatriation flight leaves with 209 evacuees from Ukraine

A second humanitarian flight chartered by the Government of Ecuador left this Friday from Warsaw to Quito with 209 evacuated Ecuadorians of Ukraine after the war broke out in the face of the Russian invasion.

This flight took off from Warsaw at 00:38 local time (23:38 GMT) and is scheduled to arrive at Quito’s Mariscal Sucre airport around 9:05 local time (14:05 GMT) on Saturday, after a stopover. in Madrid, according to the Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juan Carlos Holguín.

In the aircraft are those who could not board the first flight, who arrived in Quito this Friday after having collected 246 Ecuadorians in two stops made on Thursday in Budapest and Warsaw.

Once the second flight lands, Ecuador will have repatriated 464 citizens who were in Ukraine, most of them majoring in medicine or dentistry.

Within that number are nine Ecuadorians who boarded the humanitarian flight chartered by the Government of Mexico for its citizens from Bucharest, and that in the next few hours they will fly to Ecuador to reunite with their families and loved ones.

300 Ecuadorians are missing

However, there are still around 300 Ecuadorians scattered throughout different Eastern European countries where they arrived in search of an emergency exit to leave Ukraine.

Altogether, the The Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry has registered about 750 compatriots who left Ukraine during the last week.

Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced that both humanitarian flights would arrive complete with 350 travelers each, neither of the two flights could be completed due to various problems.

Among the different mishaps to repatriate the Ecuadorian community evacuated from Ukraine were the complications to transport their pets, since 86 of them wanted to return to Ecuador with their pets.

repatriated animals

On the first flight to Ecuador this Friday morning they could only bring two dogs and a ferret, while on this second 32 animals are on board.

Of the Latin American countries, Ecuador had the largest community in the Ukraine, registering approximately 800 citizens, the vast majority of whom were university students.

As Foreign Minister Holguín reported to Efe on Wednesday, three out of ten citizens of Latin American countries who were in Ukraine before the war were from Ecuador.

Approximately 80% of them have already left the country, while others are still unable to leave as they find themselves in cities without sufficient guarantees for their evacuation, and another small group states that they prefer to remain in Ukraine at their own risk. (I)