Ukrainians try to flee the city of Kharkiv, after the start of the Russian invasion, on Feb. 24, 2022. (Credit. Antonio Bronic/Reuters)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Association of Parents of Students Studying Abroad called in a statement Sunday for the Foreign Ministry and the Lebanese state to enter negotiations with the Russian Embassy to open a safe passage for Lebanese students and Lebanese expatriates located in the cities of eastern Ukraine — Kharkov, Dnipro, Zaporozhye, Donbass, Kherson and Sumy — to be evacuated across the Russia-Ukraine border.
Here’s what we know:
• The Russian offensive in Ukraine, which has killed at least 64 civilians and injured nearly 200, has stranded many Lebanese in the country.
• On Friday Association of Parents of Students Studying Abroad had said it would wait “72 hours before taking escalation steps if the Lebanese government does not take the measures needed to protect the students and evacuate them through safe passages.”
• Also Friday, Lebanon’s ambassador in Kiev, Ali Daher, said that efforts were underway to provide buses to evacuate Lebanese stranded in Ukraine to Poland. For those nationals who wish to leave the country and who have filled in the dedicated online form, “buses will transport them to the Polish border [...] They will have to leave Poland within a fortnight,” he said.
• Earlier Sunday, the Secretary-General of Lebanon’s Higher Relief Committee, Gen. Mohammad Kheir, said that an agreement had been reached with the Polish authorities, in coordination with the Lebanese Embassy in Warsaw, to gather and house the Lebanese from Ukraine at the center of “The Association of Friendship with Children,” in the district of Wzycolenia 31, located in the Polish capital. Those wishing to take refuge there are asked to log on to the center’s website or call 00 22 7826843 - 509 673 133.
• However, there have been no announcements as yet regarding arrangements to evacuate Lebanese citizens across Ukraine’s border with Russia.
• Those measures that have been put in place come after Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib instructed the Higher Relief Committee to ensure the repatriation by air of Lebanese who have taken refuge in Poland and Romania, without however communicating a specific date for the start of these operations. The Foreign Ministry has also announced that Lebanese stranded in Ukraine will be allowed to cross the border to Poland and said that the Romanian authorities will provide accommodation, food and medical assistance for a period of 24 to 48 hours to those coming from Ukraine.