More than 100 Lebanese nationals arrived safely in Beirut on Friday at dawn, fleeing Ukraine via Romania with the assistance of the Lebanese diaspora in Romania and the help of the Lebanese public security and the higher relief authority.
Replying to local TV reporters at Beirut airport, they described their journey as long and scary from Kharkiv, which is at the border with Russia, and how they struggled to arrive at the border with Romania. “The train took us approximately 26 hours,” they said.
About 50 Lebanese students have made it through to Romania where a Lebanese businessman is arranging for them to stay at the Venice Hotel in Bucharest until their flight back to Lebanon.
There is currently another group of students and families trying to be transported by bus from the Romanian-Ukrainian border to Bucharest.
On Wednesday, about 40 Lebanese nationals fleeing Ukraine landed at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut via Bucharest.
The crossing of borders from Ukraine to Poland and Romania has been reportedly dangerous and also complicated due to the masses of refugees fleeing the war.
It has been reported that more than 900,000 Ukrainians have fled their country since the start of the Russian invasion at the end of February, not counting the foreign nationals.
