KYIV – Ukraine has started the forced evacuation of around 1,000 children from areas near to the front line as Russia intensifies attacks.
Parents have been told they must move their families to safety from 31 settlements in the southern Kherson and eastern Donetsk regions.
Anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Officials in the north-eastern Kharkiv region are also preparing to evacuate 275 children from 10 settlements.
Ukraine has ordered such evacuations before when fighting has intensified.
Officials say many children are living under near constant shelling and insist it’s now far too dangerous for them to remain at home.
Accompanied by police officers – with the power to force families to flee – they’re now going door to door to persuade parents to leave with their children.
Kyiv has promised families safe passage to safer parts of the country where they’ll be given free accommodation and places at schools and nurseries.
Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, who is the spokesman for the Kherson regional administration, explained that some families were still reluctant to leave their homes, despite the increased danger and discomfort of living under near constant enemy attack.
“There are different cases,” he said. “For example, when families barricade themselves inside. Of course the police don’t break doors. They talk to people. They show videos to people of what happens if the shell hits, with killed and injured children. It is more psychological work”.
Getting the families out is a difficult and dangerous task carried out by emergency workers and volunteers.
In the Donetsk region a special police unit known as the White Angels is responsible for getting people to safety.
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said the evacuation teams were risking their lives and appealed to parents to be ready: “If you’re warned about evacuation, please don’t delay, pack the most necessary things, your documents, and leave.”
But she also acknowledged that the authorities in Kherson lack sufficient armoured vehicles to transport children to safety. It’s estimated that around 800 children live in the affected areas and Vereshchuk said she’d asked international organizations to help. “800 children is a lot, and we need to take them out as soon as possible.”
Ukraine says that Russian troops have launched major assaults on a few areas along the Eastern front in recent days and intensified shelling in the south.
It’s feared that Moscow plans attacks on critical infrastructure as winter approaches. (BBC)
