Ukraine will remove children from five communities located on the southern front, in the region of Zaporizhia, the Ministry of Reintegration announced today, in the face of “a difficult security situation and [ρωσικούς] bombings”.

In total, “54 children and 67 persons accompanying them will be compulsorily removed,” the ministry said in a statement posted on the Telegram app.

The five communities are “Khulyapoli, Stepnohirsk, Preobrazhenka, Ekhorivka and Novopavlivka,” the Ukrainian ministry said, according to which the decision was made “unanimously” at a meeting of local officials.

According to this source, “in addition to children, the mandatory evacuation will also apply to people with reduced mobility living in the above communities.”

Civilian evacuations have been relatively rare for several months in Ukraine, with the majority of residents having made an early choice to either leave the heavy fighting zones or stay at all costs.

The last major operations of this kind had taken place on August 10 around Kupyansk (north-east).