Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told a press conference today that plans are in place to evacuate some 220,000 of the roughly 350,000 residents, including 52,000 children.
The Ukrainian government aims to evacuate – before winter – two-thirds of residents from areas it still controls in the Donetsk region, partly out of concern that they will be left at the mercy of the cold due to war-damaged infrastructure.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told a press conference today that plans are in place to evacuate some 220,000 of the roughly 350,000 residents, including 52,000 children.
At the end of last month, Kyiv had announced the mandatory evacuation of areas of Donetsk, where heavy fighting is taking place with Russian forces. Although authorities call the evacuation “mandatory,” residents can opt out by filling out a form expressing their intention to stay.
Since August 1, 3,904 people have been removed, according to Vereschuk.
The vice-president of the Ukrainian government emphasized that thousands of residents must leave the region before the arrival of winter, because the fighting has destroyed the electricity and heating infrastructure. He added that the evacuation may need to be extended to other areas, such as Kherson, Kharkiv and Zaporizhia.
RES-EMP
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