Botched evacuation: thousands remain in Bucha, including toddler with transplanted organ

Thousands of civilians have remained in Bucha, a town near Kyiv that has for the past week been a site of atrocious attacks by Russian enemy forces after the invaders thwarted the latest evacuation attempt.

Among those waiting to be taken out from the town is a 2-year-old boy who has been sheltering in a basement for several days after undergoing transplantation surgery, according to a Ukrainian legislator, Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk, who addressed the issue on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"It’s very sad that the evacuation from Borodianka, Bucha, and Hostomel failed. Hostomel has been mined. Thousands of people remained in Bucha, including a 2-year-old boy, after a transplant surgery, who has been sheltering in a basement for several days already. In Borodianka, on Tsentralna Street, 25 people remain under the rubble. In Hostomel, a nursing home is under blockade," reads the statement.

According to the lawmaker, yesterday, a group of civilians from Myhalky, Zahaltsi, and Maidanivka were partially evacuated to Piskivka. There are several hundred people constantly coming from the surrounding villages, hiding from the invaders’ atrocities and shelling. But Piskivka was shelled, too, and a girl, 20, was killed there as a result.

There are constant reports that the invaders are taking hostages out to Belarus - especially male civilians who have no tattoos on their bodies.

The Chornobyl NPP has been in blackout, along with a satellite town of Slavutych, meaning water supplies have been disrupted. The occupiers keep holding the NPP and its staff hostage.

At the same time, hope for evacuation remains, Vasylevska-Smahliuk believes.

According to the Ukrainian MP, negotiations are underway to open humanitarian routes from Dymer and surrounding villages, Nemishayevo and surrounding villages, as well as the Borodianka, Ivankiv and Polissia districts.

She also stressed that on March 9, twelve lawmakers co-authored an appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross, “in UNDERSTANDABLE French,” demanding that a humanitarian corridor be ensured, and called on the ICRC mission to return to the area where the occupying forces are committing brutal crimes.