Ukraine orders mass evacuation of children in two frontline regions as Russian advances intensify
Millions have been forced to flee their homes in Ukraine since the war started in 2022.
Ukraine has ordered the evacuation of thousands of children and their parents from frontline settlements in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where Russian troops have been advancing.
"Due to the difficult security situation, a decision was made to forcibly evacuate more than 3,000 children and their parents from 44 frontline settlements in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions," Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Friday on Telegram.
The evacuations, Kuleba said, were also ongoing in the northern Chernigiv region, which borders Moscow-allied Belarus and has been the target of Russian shelling.
"In total, 150,000 people have been evacuated from frontline areas to safer regions since June 1. Among them are nearly 18,000 children and more than 5,000 people with limited mobility," Kuleba said.
Moscow's forces, who started military offensives against Ukraine in February 2022, have been grinding their way through the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region.
In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Russian advances have been rarer than in the embattled east, but have accelerated in recent months.
In recent months, Russia has claimed to have captured new settlements in both regions.
In September 2022, Russia claimed to have officially annexed the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Lugansk, and Kherson regions, although it did not claim full military control of all of them.