The Egyptian ministries of foreign affairs and tourism are to help the 20,000 Ukrainian tourists here at present.
This statement by Ukrainian Chargé d’Affaires in Cairo Ruslan Nechai came during a press conference at the Ukrainian Embassy yesterday.
“We are co-operating with Egypt to send them to neighbouring countries, especially Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, and then on to Ukraine. We thank Egypt for such co-operation at all levels,” Nechai said.
Nechai also hailed Egypt for its role since the start of the crisis and its voting for a UN resolution to halt the Russia invasion of Ukraine.
“We highly appreciate that, even though Egypt has strong political, economic and military relations with Russia,” Nechai added.
Nechai denied allegations of racism at the Ukrainian borders.
“Given the harsh security conditions, we are highly committed to ensuring equal treatment of all persons arriving at Ukraine’s borders with certain humanitarian exceptions permitted for women and children.
“We are doing everything we can at all levels to ensure safe access for citizens of other countries,” he said.
“Russian propaganda distorts the situation and spreads false statements about alleged discrimination against foreigners at the border in order to undermine confidence in the efforts of the Ukrainian government,” he said.
Although the Ukrainian army is smaller and has less equipment and armament compared to Russian forces, Ukraine has proved its mettle in the fierce defence of its territory, he added.
“We do not have nuclear weapons and we signed the Budapest Agreement, and we refuse to have weapons.”
Regarding diplomatic efforts, Nechai said that as of now, there are 86 countries and 13 international organisations supporting Ukraine.
“We count on the proper reaction by the international community to Russia’s aggression,” he said.
Nechai also pointed out that Ukraine has submitted a request against Russia at the International Justice Court for committing ‘war crimes’.
“We know this will take time. We take this step to document such crimes for future generations.”
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