Russians letting very few people out of temporarily occupied territories
OLENA ROSHCHINA — TUESDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2022, 14:31
The Russian occupiers have effectively stopped letting evacuation transport out of the temporarily occupied territories to enter territory controlled by Kyiv.
Source: Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine; Mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov
Quote from the Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine: "Over the current month, evacuation from the temporarily occupied territories has not stopped. But now it has become too difficult. It is almost impossible to leave the temporarily occupied territories.
The occupiers have effectively stopped letting evacuation transport out of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. They are creating any obstacles they can: demanding licences from hauliers, applying fingerprinting procedures, checking all documents, phones, cars, etc.
As a result, only a small number of people have managed to leave [the occupied territories - ed.] in almost a month - the same number that used to leave in one or two days. More than 1,300 people have evacuated from Kherson Oblast, and about 1,400 citizens have evacuated from Zaporizhzhia Oblast."
Details: On the morning of 25 October, the Mayor of Melitopol [an occupied city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast - ed.] reported that the occupiers are effectively holding people living in occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts hostage.
According to Fedorov, on Monday, 24 October the invaders allowed only 139 people to leave and enter Zaporizhzhia, including 18 residents of Melitopol and adjacent territories. The occupiers gave themselves a day off on Sunday, 23 October, and did not let out a single person.
"Thousands of people want to leave the occupation for Ukrainian-controlled territory every day. But the Ruscists let out only a few people through the only evacuation route towards Zaporizhzhia, the checkpoint at Vasylivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast," Fedorov said.
He noted that the alternative way to evacuate is through the occupied territories: through Crimea or Novoazovsk in Donetsk Oblast.
"The journey can take a long time, but it is necessary to evacuate as it is dangerous to live under the occupation," Fedorov emphasised.
At the same time, the Ministry for Reintegration reported that the pace of evacuation from the liberated territories, where it is still impossible to restore utilities as winter approaches, is growing. People can express their desire to evacuate through a chatbot, Minre_1548_Help_Bot, or by calling the Ministry’s hotline: 15-48.
The Ministry also stated that about 18,000 Ukrainians evacuated from dangerous areas, temporarily occupied territories and liberated territories during October.
Every day, about 1,000 citizens leave for safer areas in the centre and west of Ukraine.
Moreover, a mandatory evacuation from Donetsk Oblast is underway. Over 5,000 people, including 700 children and more than 500 people with disabilities, left Donetsk Oblast for safer regions of Ukraine last month alone.
In total, about 1,100,000 people, including 131,000 children and more than 24,000 people with disabilities, have been evacuated from Donetsk Oblast.
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