Over 2,000 Civilians Evacuated from Donetsk Region in a Week

During the first seven days of the mandatory evacuation of people from the Donetsk region, it was possible to evacuate almost 2,000 people, including 385 children and 102 persons with reduced mobility, Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said.

“It is very important for us that people evacuate quickly, because the shelling does not stop, and winter is about to come,” the Minister said.

She assured that everyone who wants to move will be helped to register for evacuation, arrive at an assembly point, be transported to their place of residence, etc. Currently, residents of the Donetsk region are offered a move to the Kirovohrad, Poltava, Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr regions and regional centres.

Special trains are organised for people with reduced mobility. Immediately after arrival, people are paid a one-time cash benefit. Then, all those with the status of internally displaced persons are paid a monthly cash assistance. International organsations also help the displaced.

The other day, Vereshchuk reported that about 1,000-1,200 people left the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions daily. Between 1 August and 5 August, 5,330 people left.

The Minister clarified that these statistics did not include people evacuating with their own transport, as it is difficult to record them. However, every day there are more and more such refugees.

At the same time, Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration Serhiy Haidai informed that the authorities were unable to evacuate people from that Russian-occupied region, as there were no corridors. People can leave the region only on their own in several ways.

The first direction is to go through the Kharkiv region on foot. The second one is through the Zaporizhzhia region, but there are now huge queues, as there are many people who want to go to the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine. Another direction is a large circle through the territory of the Russian Federation and the Baltic countries.

Bohdan Marusyak