China starts evacuating citizens from Ukraine, one injured

China has started evacuating its citizens from Ukraine, State media said on Tuesday, as fears grow for their safety with anger reportedly rising over Beijing's refusal to condemn the Russian invasion.

One person was injured by a bullet while travelling by road from eastern Ukraine to the western city of Lviv, State broadcaster CCTV reported, adding that they were receiving hospital treatment. No further details were given.

A group of around 600 Chinese students fled the capital Kyiv and the southern port city of Odessa on Monday, the State-run Global Times newspaper reported, citing staff at the Chinese missions in Ukraine.

They travelled by bus to neighbouring Moldova under an embassy escort and local police protection, with one evacuee saying the six-hour journey was "safe and smooth".

Another 1,000 Chinese nationals were set to leave Ukraine on Tuesday bound for Poland and Slovakia, both European Union states.

An updated later report said some 700-800 Chinese nationals were evacuated by road to Moldova, from where they can go on to Romania and get a chartered flight to China.

China has been walking a diplomatic tightrope on the Ukraine conflict, balancing its oft-repeated insistence on the sanctity of state sovereignty with an unwillingness to call out its close ally Russia.