Ukraine evacuates citizens from Lebanon: “Secure now”

Women and children were flown to Poland • The authorities advise against travel to Lebanon

Lebanon is no longer considered safe for Ukrainians.
During Saturday, the country evacuated 30 of its citizens.
“Ukraine became one of the first in the world to successfully evacuate its citizens from Lebanon,” writes the Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR, in a statement.

It is Ukraine’s military intelligence service, GUR, which comes out with the information that it has evacuated 30 of its citizens from Lebanon on Saturday. The operation must have been carried out together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It concerns 21 women and nine children, who are now said to be safe in the city of Rzeszów in southeastern Poland.

“Ukraine became one of the first countries in the world to successfully evacuate its citizens from Lebanon. As in previous cases of crises and armed conflicts abroad, Ukraine is showing leadership in taking care of its people,” writes GUR in a statement.

Please avoid public gatherings

In the statement, the intelligence service further writes that the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to work to help the citizens who remain in Lebanon, and who want to return home.

Those citizens who want to stay are asked, among other things, to avoid large gatherings of people, not to participate in demonstrations and not to leave their place of residence unnecessarily.

They are further advised to refrain from traveling to areas near the Syrian and Israeli borders.

The Swedish call: “Go home”

The evacuation comes after the recent escalation between terrorist-branded Hezbollah and Israel.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry has advised against travel to Lebanon since 2013, and yesterday Friday Foreign Minister Tobias Billström confirmed to TV4 Nyheterna that the Swedish embassy staff is being relocated to Cyprus on a temporary basis.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson made a statement on Saturday, and made a clear appeal to the Swedes who remain in Lebanon.

– Go home. Now.

– There has been a recommendation for a long time and now the situation is increasingly urgent. So my only advice and my strong recommendation is to go home. Because we won’t be able to help many people if it gets even worse than today.

t4-general