Ukrainian ship will evacuate Americans from Libya – Mikhail Yezhel

30.03.2011 Ukrainian landing ship Konstantin Olshansky which was dispatched on March 23 to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from Libya is also available for other people wishing to leave the country including citizens of the US, Great Britain, and Greece, said Ukrainian defense minister Mikhail Yezhel at press conference in Nikolayev.

Yezhel reminded that large landing ship Konstantin Olshansky had arrived to neutral waters near Libyan-Tunisian sea border on March 28 and was ready for humanitarian mission.

"Our embassy in Tripoli received a request from citizens of the US, the UK, and Greece asking to evacuate them, and of course we're going to take them on board. Ukrainian nation should be proud of our warship performing such humanitarian mission", said the minister.

He also said Ukraine was the only country which president personally ordered to send a warship on humanitarian mission to evacuate its nationals from the rioted country.

Ukrainian foreign ministry reported on Tuesday that only 150 out of 700 Ukrainians currently residing in Libya wished to return home.

Editors' comment

With all due respect to Ukrainian defense minister, the coalition's warships (particularly, British frigates) evacuate civil population from Libya on a regular basis. Meanwhile, western media sources generally position the Operation Odyssey Dawn just as "humanitarian mission" meant to protect Libya's civil population from "massive destruction of Gaddafi's regime".