Young Egyptian rescues Arab families trapped in Ukraine
Social media outlets were abuzz over the past few days with news about Islam al-Ashiri, an Egyptian man who rescued a number of families stuck in Kyiv following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
CAIRO — Islam al-Ashiri, an Egyptian who works as a tour guide in Ukraine, won high praise from social media users recently after he helped several families flee the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which is under Russian attack, to the city of Lviv near the Polish border.
Ashiri, 27, told Al-Monitor that he initially managed to rescue a Lebanese man, and then an Iraqi woman and her four children after their house was bombed by the Russians. By the time he got to them they had run out of food.
In addition, he rescued a Yemeni family and transported a Saudi man and his pregnant wife to the border with Poland.
Despite managing to reach the border under difficult circumstances, Ashiri chose not to leave Ukraine himself. Each time he would return to Kyiv to save more families and children.
