More than 140,000 residents remain in the part of Donetsk Oblast controlled by Ukrainian authorities. Since the beginning of June, 3,800 residents of Donetsk have left the region, including about 400 children.
The progress of the evacuation in Donetsk Oblast was discussed during a regular briefing at the Donetsk Regional State Administration, attended by representatives of the Department of Civil Protection, Mobilization and Defense, the Children’s Services Department, and the Department of Social Protection of the Regional State Administration.
Since the beginning of this month, the highest numbers of evacuees have come from the Kramatorsk community (1,800 people) and the Sloviansk community (about 1,000 people). About 200 residents left Druzhkivka, 360 left Mykolaivka, and 140 people left Kostyantynivka.
There are 16,000 residents remaining in the communities classified as active combat zones. Three of them are minors, all in the city of Mykolaivka.
In total, there are 8,063 children in the government-controlled territory of Donetsk Oblast. The largest numbers of children are in the Sloviansk community (3,800) and the Kramatorsk community (2,500).
On June 9, the next phase of the forced evacuation of families with children began. This includes certain settlements in the Kramatorsk community, as well as certain streets in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
There are currently 629 children in the six settlements where mandatory evacuation of families with children has been ordered. There are 333 children on certain streets in Sloviansk and 293 children in the Kramatorsk community (in areas where mandatory evacuation has been ordered).
Since the beginning of June, 34 children have been evacuated: one child each from the city of Druzhkivka and the village of Serhiivka in the Andriivka community, and 33 children from certain streets in Sloviansk.
The free resettlement of evacuated Donetsk residents to safer regions of Ukraine is ongoing. During the first nine days of May, 92 people were accommodated, including 17 residents with limited mobility and 17 children. Free temporary shelter was provided to everyone who requested such assistance.
A pilot project is underway at one of the transit points, allowing people to independently “book” a room from a provided list of host facilities, after which they are transported there free of charge. Plans are in place to expand this approach in the future.
During the briefing, officials once again urged people not to delay evacuation and to take the step of relocating. Recently, in the village of Serhiivka in the Udachne community, soldiers rescued a woman born in 1945 who had been thrown from her home by a blast wave. Risking their own lives, the soldiers saved the elderly woman’s life and carried her out of the inferno.
The woman is currently at a transit point, and it is still being decided whether she will be able to go to her children or will be sent to Dnipro to a transit center for the elderly. The team from the “Skhid SOS” Charitable Foundation will help her restore her documents, which were completely destroyed in her home due to shelling. And if the woman has to live apart from her family, she will be able to go to a geriatric facility that accepts evacuees from Donetsk who need such support.