KYIV, Ukraine, June 6, 2024 (AFP) – Ukraine on Thursday announced it was ordering the evacuation of children and their guardians from several towns and villages in the eastern Donetsk region, where fighting with Russia is intensifying.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian firepower is now concentrated on the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in 2022, despite not having full control over it.
“This is an important decision designed primarily to save the lives of our children,” the Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on social media.
“The security situation in the region is constantly deteriorating, and the intensity of shelling is increasing.”
He listed the town of Lyman, which was briefly held by Russian forces before being recaptured, as well as several other villages near the frontline, including the hamlet of Progres.
In the early months of the war, Zelensky urged all residents of the industrial Donetsk region to flee but those orders were not enforced.
Ukraine was forced last month to divert manpower to the northern Kharkiv region from other areas of the front line after Russian forces launched a ground offensive into the border territory.
