Arrangements are being made to help as many as 20,000 Ukrainian tourists stranded at Egyptian resorts to fly to Europe, Ukrainian embassy officials in Cairo said on Thursday, adding that many were ready to head to Ukraine to fight Russian forces.
The tourists, estimated at between 17,500 and 20,000, are mostly in the Egyptian Red Sea resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, with some further south in Marsa Allam.
A few have flown out of their own accord but the embassy is working with Egyptian authorities and tourism companies to set up returns to countries neighbouring Ukraine, said the embassy deputy head Yevhen Zhupeyev.
