In part of the front-line communities of Volnovakha, Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut districts of the Donetsk region, forced evacuation has been ongoing since April last year. This process has been extended to the Mariinka and Ocheretyne communities.
Forced evacuation of families with children in Donetsk region continues
On January 24, the authorities of the Donetsk region decided to expand the list of settlements from which families with children must be forcibly evacuated
This was announced on Facebook by the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration (RMA), Vadym Filashkin, following the Regional Commission for Technogenic and Ecological Safety and Emergency Situations meeting results.
He reminded that since April last year, forced evacuation has been ongoing in part of the front-line communities of Volnovakha, Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, and Bakhmut districts.
Today we made a decision to start it in separate settlements of Mariinka and Ocheretyne communities — 72 children are still there now, wrote Filashkin.
The official also noted that the situation in Avdiivka, where 1,080 residents still live, remains challenging. There is only one road left to leave the city; it is increasingly difficult to get humanitarian aid there, but people refuse to evacuate.
Children should not grow up in war. We must do everything necessary so that the children of Donetsk live in relative safety far from the front, he added.
Forced evacuation of children: what is known
In March 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a mechanism for the forced evacuation of children accompanied by one of their parents or another legal representative from active combat zones.
On October 23, 2023, a decision was made to carry out the forced evacuation of children from eight settlements of the Bakhmut and Pokrovsk districts of the Donetsk region.
On January 19, 2024, Filashkin reported that all children were taken out of the settlements of Mariinka, Ocheretyne, and Vugledar communities of the Donetsk region, where mandatory evacuation was announced. Evacuation from the Toretsk community continues.
