65 Ukrainians stuck on Russian-Georgian border returned to Ukraine - MFA
65 citizens were returned to Ukraine from the buffer zone on the Russian-Georgian border.
This was announced by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiga, according to Censor.NET.
"Among them are 10 women, 8 of whom are seriously ill. All of them were at the Georgian checkpoint "Daryali" in conditions of a humanitarian crisis created by Russia's actions. Ukrainian diplomats and consuls made every effort to return citizens and improve their conditions at the border, in particular with the involvement of international organizations," the statement said.
Sybiga recalled that in previous months, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, together with the relevant authorities, had already organized the return of a total of 44 citizens. Thus, the total number of Ukrainians who were returned from the Dariali checkpoint in previous months amounted to 109 people.
"The humanitarian crisis on the Russian-Georgian border arose in the second half of June, when Russia began to deliberately increase the number of Ukrainian citizens it deported to this checkpoint. The Ukrainian side has already publicly called on Russia to send them directly to the Ukrainian border, not Georgia. This proposal remains in force. If Russia continues to ignore it, the only conclusion will be that the sharp increase in the number of deportees is a planned Russian operation against Ukraine," the minister added.
We would like to remind you that it was previously reported that, starting in the second half of June, Russia significantly intensified the deportation of Ukrainian citizens across the border with Georgia, which caused a humanitarian crisis in the buffer zone of the Dariali checkpoint, with some Ukrainians announcing the start of a hunger strike.
At the end of June, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that it was aware of the problem facing these Ukrainian citizens and was working on their return.
