Parents of Lebanese students stuck in Ukraine protest in Tripoli on Feb. 25, 2022. (Credit: Michel Hallak/OLJ)
BEIRUT – The parents of Lebanese students studying in Ukraine held a sit-in Friday in al-Nour square in Tripoli calling for authorities to “save our children.”
Here’s what we know:
• The sit-in took place on the second day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as many Lebanese students studying in Ukraine have found themselves stuck in the middle of a war zone.
• According to the National News Agency, the protestors chanted "save our children from the hell of the war between Russia and Ukraine” and called on the international community to save the students, saying they had lost hope that the Lebanese state would evacuate the students.
• Fadi Melhem, one of the parents, said that "all the emergency numbers given to the Lebanese to communicate with [their relatives] in Ukraine are closed or out of service.” He added that the students in Ukraine are “taking refuge in metro [stations], and we have lost contact with some.”
• Yesterday, the Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry set up an online form for Lebanese citizens seeking to leave Ukraine, as all flights out of the country were canceled and the airspace was blocked. The ministry also called on these Lebanese "to stay in safe places.”
• More than a week ago, the ministry had already advised its nationals to "voluntarily and quickly leave Ukraine, until tensions disappear and things return to their normal course.”