Turkey is ready to provide ships to organize the evacuation of civilians and the wounded from Mariupol by sea, Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reported.
“Ankara’s readiness to support the evacuation process was brought to the attention of the Russian military attaché in Turkey, who was invited to our defense department. A similar initiative was transferred to Russian authorities and through the Turkish military attaché in Moscow. We are also coordinating our efforts with Ukrainian authorities through the military attaché in this country,” Akar said.
Akar also noted that Turkey continues to supply humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people.
The Turkish minister announced active contacts with the Russian Federation and Ukraine and on the issue of the safe exit of Turkish ships from Ukrainian ports.
Regarding the mine threat in the Black Sea, the minister noted that at the moment there are no problems for shipping.
Some 146,000 foreign students, including 20,000 from India, have left Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation, spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleh Nikolenko said.
“Since the Russian invasion, Ukrainian government has helped 146,000 foreign citizens leave Ukraine, including 20,000 Indian students, evacuated from besieged cities,” Nikolenko tweeted.
“Russia must immediately cease fire in order to open humanitarian corridors for civilians in Sumy, Kharkiv, Mariupol,” the spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
The Ukrainian SkyUp Airlines company (Kyiv) does not plan on April 3 to carry out special flights to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from abroad.
“On April 3, we will not operate flights,” the airline’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
Earlier, head of the Ukrainian Hospitality Industry Association Oleksandr Liyev said that the Ukrainian airline on Friday, April 3, would carry out six special flights to evacuate Ukrainians home, but he did not specify the name of the carrier.
In turn, a source on the market told Interfax-Ukraine that the Ukrainian company SkyUp would be the carrier of the flights announced by Liyev.
