Thirty-one civilians evacuated from recently liberated villages in Donetsk region

Thirty-one civilians have been evacuated from villages in the Donetsk region recently recaptured by the Ukrainian army, including Blahodatne, Storozheve, Neskuchne and Makarivka.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said this at a briefing at the Ukraine - Ukrinform Media Center.

"The population that remained in these settlements, a small number of them, is currently being evacuated. Now the total number of people who have already been transported to a place where they are provided with medical and psychological assistance and food […] is 30 people from the specified settlements and one more person with a disability," he said.

He noted that places have been prepared for these people – most of them the elderly - for their long-term stay outside the region.

"We take everyone away and evacuate them. First, we evacuate them to a certain stabilization point in the [Donetsk] region, where they are provided with assistance, and then beyond the borders of the region," Kyrylenko said.

According to him, by February 24, 2022, no more than 700 people lived in the said settlements in the Volnovakha district, Donetsk region.

Kyrylenko said that last year there were fierce battles in the Volnovakha district, and already on February 25 and 26, 2022, Ukrainian buses were evacuating people from there under fire.

The Ukrainian army recaptured the villages of Blahodatne, Storozheve, Neskuchne and Makarivka in the Donetsk region from Russian invaders in early June.