Evacuation from Luhansk Region is complicated, head of Oblast Military Administration advises residents to stay in shelters

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO - MONDAY, 23 MAY, 2022, 8:29 P.M.

Evacuation from Luhansk Oblast is currently very difficult and dangerous, and the head of Luhansk Oblast Military Administration (OVA) Serhiy Haidai is advising residents to remain in shelters.

Source: Serhiy Haidai in a video address and on the 24-hour live national television channel, and the head of the Sievierodonetsk Military-Civilian Administration, Oleksandr Stryuk

Haidai's Quote: "Now, I am not just going to say ‘leave,’ [or] ‘evacuate’.  I’m going to say ‘remain in shelters,’ because the shelling is so intense you will not be able to calmly gather people and then collect them by car."

"Now every evacuation is such a ‘quest’ for survival. Because the shelling is constant, the route is shelled in the same way. We don’t know what the likelihood is of being able to pass through and collect people safely. Nevertheless the evacuation continues. Today people were taken out of the Hirska hromada and other settlements."

Details: According to the head of the OVA, the situation in the oblast is extremely difficult. He said that in Luhansk Oblast, the Russian army has deployed 25 battalion tactical groups, each with up to 500 people.

"The Russian army has decided to simply destroy Sievierodonetsk completely. Because bombs are being dropped on the city, Grads are constantly striking it, tanks are traveling throughout and simply smashing standing houses, 5 or 9 storey buildings. Unfortunately, they are also shelling the Azot enterprise, where there are no soldiers, but there are civilians in bomb shelters. The whole territory of Luhansk Oblast is under fire, but the enemy has focused most of its efforts on Sievierodonetsk," Haidai said.

According to him, there are still about 15,000 inhabitants in Sievierodonetsk.

The head of the Military-Civil Administration of Sievierodonetsk, Oleksandr Stryuk, said that about 90% of the city's infrastructure had been destroyed. Also, all electrical substations have been damaged.