Not all Lysychansk residents who wanted to evacuate were able to do so

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – MONDAY, 4 JULY 2022, 21:23

Not all residents of the city of Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast who wanted to evacuate were able to do so. The Armed Forces of Ukraine withdrew from Lysychansk on 3 July following heavy fighting.

Source: Valerii Shybiko, head of the Lysychansk Military-Civilian Administration, in a comment for Radio Svoboda [Radio Liberty - ed.]

Quote from Shybiko: "However much we wanted to evacuate everyone, the number of those who wanted to leave increased in the last few days, and so did the intensity of the [Russian - ed.] shelling. We evacuated everyone we could but I think that we were probably not able to reach some of the more distant neighbourhoods in Lysychansk."

Details: Shybiko said that there is currently no safe route out of Lysychansk.

He also confirmed that some of the civilians who remain in the city did in fact greet the arrival of the Russian army.

"A number of people were waiting for the Russian troops. For the most part, these are older people, those who remember the Soviet Union, who have been waiting for its return – and now they have it. They think that it’s the Soviet Union that’s arrived in their city," Shybiko said.

Earlier: On Sunday, 3 July, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Ukrainian troops withdrew from their positions in Lysychansk, Luhansk Oblast, following heavy fighting.