Ukrainian officials are asking residents to leave Donetsk province

2022-07-07 08:39:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukrainian officials are asking residents to leave Donetsk province

Illustrative photo

Ukrainian officials on Wednesday told the remaining residents of the eastern Donetsk province to leave for safer areas after Russia launched fresh attacks in a bid to take full control of the industrialized Donbass region.

"Russia has turned the entire Donetsk region into a war zone, where the presence of civilians is dangerous," Donetsk regional military administrator Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian media. "I call on everyone to evacuate," he said. "Evacuation saves lives," he added.

Rusia tashmë kontrollon 55% të provincës së Donetskut pasi tha se ditët e fundit kishte marrë nën kontroll plotësisht provincën fqinje të Luhanskut. Presidenti rus Vladimir Putin ka thënë se një nga qëllimet kryesore të sulmit ndaj Ukrainës është kontrolli i plotë i sektorit të saj lindor, rajonit kryesisht rusisht-folës të Donbasit që përfshin dy provincat. Rusia e filloi sulmin e saj ndaj Ukrainës para rreth katër muajve.

Disa ukrainas po u rezistojnë thirrjeve për t’u larguar nga Donetsku, por zoti Kyrylenko tha se vetëm rreth 340,000 njerëz vazhdojnë të qëndrojnë atje nga gati 1.7 milion banorë që ky rajon i kishte para fillimit të luftës.

Only about 23,000 people are still in Sloviansk, one of the latest targets of Russian bombing, out of a pre-war population of about 107,000, the city's mayor, Vadim Lyakh, said. Increased Russian attacks have increased the pace of evacuations.

Ukrainian railway officials said they would increase the number of trains to facilitate evacuations.

Ukrainian officials said Russian attacks in the past 24 hours killed at least 8 civilians and wounded 25 others, while pro-Russian separatists said attacks by Ukrainian forces killed four civilians. Ukraine said that most of the casualties in its ranks were the result of Russian attacks in Donetsk./ VOA