AMMAN: Jordan on Saturday said that it is exerting “intensive” diplomatic efforts to ensure a safe evacuation of its citizens in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Haitham Abu Al-Foul said that are around 145 Jordanians with their families are still in the northeast of Ukraine, which has been reportedly witnessing fierce battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The spokesman’s remarks followed reports claiming that Ukrainian forces are holding about 5,000 foreigners hostage, including 200 Jordanians, as human shields in Kharkiv and Sumy.
Al-Foul told Arab News that many Jordanians have already left Kharkiv to neighboring countries, without giving exact figures about how many have fled and how many are still trapped in Ukraine’s second-largest city, which also has been witnessing heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
The official said that Jordan is exerting intensive diplomatic efforts through its embassies in Moscow and Ankara and relief organizations working in Ukraine to create corridors to evacuate Jordanians from the war-hit country.
He also said that a total of 810 Jordanians have been evacuated from Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict on Feb. 24.
Al-Foul said that around 2,600 Jordanians were in Ukraine before the conflict. “But this figure was provided by the Ukrainians, and it is not exact since many probably left before the war,” he added.
Russian authorities said on Saturday that Ukrainians were holding about 5,000 foreigners hostage to use them as human shields.
Russia’s National Defense Control Center Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev was quoted in international press as claiming that “militants of Ukrainian nationalist battalions continue holding hostage about 5,000 foreigners as human shields.”
The Russian official claimed that the Ukrainian side has refused proposals to open humanitarian corridors in Kharkiv and Sumy.
