Ukraine evacuates 31 citizens, including 14 children, from Iran
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and the Foreign Ministry have evacuated 31 Ukrainian citizens from Iran on the instructions of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the agency said on June 24.
The news follows a war between Iran and Israel that began on June 13. The countries reached a ceasefire deal on June 24.
Israel and Iran attacked each other hours after the ceasefire was announced. Despite the initial violations, the agreement appears to be holding now.
Ukraine evacuated 14 children, 12 women, and five men, according to HUR.
The evacuation was carried out through Azerbaijan and Moldova to Kyiv, the statement read.
“We felt completely unprotected all the time in Tehran because there were no air raid alerts. In addition, the Internet was down, and we had no idea what was happening,” Varvara from Kyiv Oblast, who was evacuated from Iran, told HUR’s press service.
Earlier, Ukraine evacuated 176 people from Israel, including 133 Ukrainian citizens. The evacuation from Iran is the final stage of a joint operation by HUR and the Foreign Ministry to rescue Ukrainian citizens from high-risk areas, according to the agency’s statement.
Tensions between Iran and Israel had already been rising after Iran launched missile strikes on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on June 13, killing multiple civilians, including five Ukrainian nationals. The attack came in retaliation for Israeli military action.
On June 24, Trump announced that a ceasefire between Iran and Israel had come into effect, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and a retaliatory Iranian attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar.
The Kyiv IndependentAlisa Yurchenko