Filatov says he did not announce an evacuation, but expressed a personal opinion

IRYNA BALACHUK - THURSDAY, 7 APRIL 2022, 18:05

The Mayor of Dnipro, Borys Filatov, has explained that he did not announce an evacuation from the city, but urged those who could and vulnerable people to leave, as he has done consistently since the start of the war.

Source: Filatov on Facebook

According to Filatov: "Panic aside. I will be very brief, although there are a lot of bad words floating around... First of all, no mayor has the right to announce such a thing. That is the sole prerogative of the country's leadership and military administrations.

Secondly, please carefully review what was said in the briefing and in all my public speeches.

The most insulting thing is that since the second day of the war, from every newspaper, and a hundred times already, I have stated my PERSONAL opinion that under conditions where there are constant missile attacks, women, children and the elderly are better off staying in quieter places."

Details: The Mayor stressed that he had voiced his opinion a hundred times already, but "for some reason, for the 101st time journalists decided to bombard with questions and started a free-for-all throughout the country".

According to Filatov, Dnipro, as a humanitarian transit hub, is ready to help everyone who has arrived from the Kharkov, Donbas and Azov regions, but he "had honestly addressed all refugees saying that with such an influx of people, Dnipro may not be able to cope."

Background: Dnipro city mayor Borys Filatov recommended that those who have left the city should not return for the time being and that certain groups of people should evacuate.