A CONVOY led by the Malaysian embassy has arrived safely in Poland after departing Ukraine, according to Wisma Putra.

In a tweet, the Foreign Ministry said the group comprising nine Malaysians, led by chargé d’affaires in Kyiv, Fadhilah Daud, along with two Ukrainian dependents and one Singaporean national reached the Korczowa-Krakovets border between Ukraine and Poland at 10.45pm local time.

In a follow-up tweet, Wisma Putra said the convoy was received by two officials from the Malaysian embassy in Poland. 

“All evacuees and accompanying officials will be making their way to Warsaw, Poland,” it tweeted.

Earlier reports said that eight Malaysian diplomats and two foreign national dependents were in the process of fleeing the country by road, after their initial plan to charter a bus fell through.

Their plan was thwarted by heavy traffic, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

They then decided to make the trip in a convoy of four cars to Lviv, about 70km from the Ukraine-Poland border. The journey covered 782km and took about 10 hours.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday said Malaysia is concerned about the conflict and urged all parties to negotiate a peaceful solution.

SCMP reported that Fadhilah made the call to proceed with an alternative plan after multiple official sources said the Foreign Ministry bungled their evacuation.

The sources blamed senior government officials, including the prime minister and foreign minister, for their dismissive stance towards Western intelligence on the imminent Russian invasion in January.

“These officials described the intelligence as a ‘Western narrative’, leading the evacuation mission to become a clusterf***,” said a source, as quoted by SCMP.

“This situation is partly the consequence of having a minister who is so desperate to not fall for Western narrative, he starts believing the nonsense peddled by the other side,” said another source.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “military operation” in Ukraine and called on soldiers there to lay down their arms, defying Western outrage and global appeals not to launch a war.

His statement came after the Kremlin said rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine had asked Moscow for military help against Kyiv. – February 27, 2022.