Ukraine Embassy in Bangkok accepting donations ‘to save lives’

People can make donations via the embassy's Bangkok Bank account 911-0-20757-9, according to the embassy's Facebook post on Tuesday.

"Each donation matters," said the post.

Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, its neighbour to the southwest, on February 24, marking a dramatic escalation of conflicts that began in 2014. This is also the largest conventional military attack on European soil since World War II.

The invasion was preceded by a Russian military build-up that began in early 2021, during which President Vladimir Putin condemned the post-1997 enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) to neighbouring nations as a threat to his country's security and demanded that Ukraine be legally prohibited from joining the military alliance.

The US, its Western allies and other countries responded to the invasion by imposing economic sanctions on Moscow, including removing Russian banks from the Swift international interbank payment system on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians in Thailand and many other countries have held demonstrations calling for peace and condemning Russia’s war on their country.

Ukraine’s Bangkok embassy has reported up to 4,500 Russian military personnel have been killed during the invasion, though these figures are unconfirmed. The embassy said Russia had invaded with tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), armoured vehicles, heavy artillery and anti-aircraft warfare systems.

On Tuesday, satellite images showed a Russian armoured convoy stretching at least 65 kilometres advancing towards Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

The first round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine ended with no sign of a breakthrough on Monday.