More than 164,000 children evacuated from Donetsk region since full-scale invasion

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, over 164,000 children have been relocated from the Donetsk region to safer regions.

Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

“During the evacuation, authorities at all levels, along with volunteer groups and individuals, successfully evacuated over 1.3 million civilians, including 164,000 children and 42,000 people with disabilities,” said the regional governor.

According to Filashkin, there are currently over 70,000 civilians residing in frontline communities near the active hostilities line. Prior to the full-scale invasion, the population was over 560,000.

Additionally, Filashkin recalled that as of February 24, 2022, more than 1.9 million people lived in the Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk region, while the current population is nearly 523,600 people.

As reported by Ukrinform, the Donetsk region is under constant shelling by Russian troops. Almost every day the enemy kills and injures civilians, destroys residential and administrative buildings, energy and infrastructure facilities. The Donetsk region has the longest front line - about 300 kilometers.

In December 2023, the Russian forces intensified shelling of settlements in the Donetsk region, resulting in an extension of the mandatory evacuation of the population.