Russia spreads fake news claiming Ukraine abandons its citizens in Gaza

Pryamyi reported the information.

The outlet notes that, according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russian citizens are calling Ukrainians in the Gaza Strip and spreading fake information such as "Ukraine has abandoned you," "There will be no more rescue," and "Russia is ready to evacuate you."

The evacuated Ukrainians told Pryamyi TV channel that the Russians are led by the attaché of the Russian mission in the Palestinian Authority, Ildar Salahedinov. 

"He calls non-evacuated Ukrainian citizens with the following narrative: ‘Ukraine has abandoned you, there will be no more evacuations, Russia is ready to evacuate you.’ In return, Salakhedinov asks to give an interview to Russian media," the statement said.

Law enforcement officials emphasize that in this way Russia is trying to discredit Ukraine. 

"Russia is currently unable to evacuate its citizens, and therefore is trying to disrupt or at least block the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens," the outlet writes.

The Defense Intelligence calls on Ukrainians in the Gaza Strip to report all cases of phone blackmail, provocations and intimidation by unknown Russians and emphasizes that Ukraine is doing everything possible to save its citizens.

War in Israel: evacuation of Ukrainians

On the morning of Saturday, October 7, 2023, the Palestinian armed groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched a massive air and land attack on the state of Israel in several places. The head of the Hamas military wing, Mohammed Deif, said that his militants had launched the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. According to him, these actions are intended to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

On October 14, Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets arrived in the Egyptian capital Cairo to help Ukrainians get out of Gaza: 243 people needed to be evacuated at the time.

In the evening of the same day, the first evacuation flight with Ukrainian citizens took off from Tel Aviv, Israel. 

As of the evening of October 15, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, Ukraine had managed to evacuate over 200 citizens from Israel and Gaza. About 260 more Ukrainians were still in Gaza.

On October 16, a second evacuation flight with 155 Ukrainian citizens took off from the Israeli capital Tel Aviv for Romania, and later a third evacuation flight with 74 Ukrainian citizens took off for Bucharest.

Yevhen Korniychuk, Ukraine's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Israel, said that as of October 23, 337 Ukrainian citizens, mostly in the southern Gaza Strip near the Rafah crossing to Egypt, had volunteered to evacuate.

On October 31, Israel's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, said that 25 Ukrainian citizens had been killed in a Hamas attack on the country.

On Wednesday, November 1, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the agencies involved began the preparatory stage of evacuating 358 Ukrainians from Gaza through the Rafah crossing to Egypt.

On Tuesday, November 7, the first group of 20 Ukrainians was evacuated from Gaza, with a total of 101 Ukrainian citizens receiving permission to leave.