The ministry announced on Saturday that they do not need Schengen visas to enter Ukraine’s EU neighbors -- Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania -- from the embattled country invaded by Russia. The visa waiver is meant for those Armenians who want to return to Armenia, it said in a statement.
“Other options for evacuating them from Ukraine are also being considered,” said the statement. “At the same time, we inform that the Republic of Armenia is ready to receive our compatriots, their family members, as well as other refugees.”
The Foreign Ministry also released emergency phone numbers of Armenia’s embassy in Kyiv and consulates in the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odessa and Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.
The Armenian diplomatic missions in Ukraine continued to operate even after Russia launched the full-scale military attack on February 24. Nor did Yerevan urge Armenian citizens to leave the country.
All flights between Armenia and Ukraine were cancelled immediately after the start of the Russian invasion.
Ukraine is officially home to some 120,000 ethnic Armenians. According to leaders of the Armenian community there, their actual number is much larger and only half of them are Ukrainian citizens.
The United Nations estimated on Friday that at least 120,000 Ukrainians have so far fled into Poland and elsewhere. Long lines were seen at border crossings in western Ukraine as refugees arrived by trains, automobiles, buses, and by foot, fleeing Europe’s largest ground war since the end of World War II.
