The foreign ministry said on Wednesday it was organizing transport for Israelis and their families from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv to the Polish border later in the day.
“The representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs will cross the border to assist you,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said that buses will leave from Gazova 36 to Lviv and people will have to register in advance by calling +380-67-911-1764.
There are still about 3,000 Israelis in Ukraine, suggesting about half of them have no interest in leaving, according to a spokesman for Israel’s Ukrainian embassy, which is now located in Przemysl, across the border in Poland. .
The embassy said nearly 3,000 Israeli citizens had left Ukraine since the start of the Russian offensive last Thursday.
Israel urged its citizens to leave the country for weeks, but many did not heed warnings.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid conducted a situational assessment on Wednesday, after which it was announced that border services will be providing initial assistance with food and medicine for Israelis fleeing Ukraine, in addition to assisting consular services. will be expanded.
“The reception station across the border is a new and important task. Citizens come after days and hours on the road, and they need us,” Lapid said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (3rd left) at the situational assessment meeting on Ukraine, March 2, 2022 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Israel is leaving Ukraine from across the chaotic border amid a rapidly growing refugee exodus into the eastern European Union, with more than 675,000 people fleeing neighboring countries since the start of the Russian invasion – a number that will only increase, accordingly. For the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Shabiya Mantu, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said on Tuesday that “at this rate, the situation is poised to become Europe’s biggest refugee crisis in this century.”
agencies and Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
