Children being mandatorily evacuated from Kharkiv Oblast in case of Russian offensive

Local authorities are mandatorily evacuating all children from Zolochiv hromada in Kharkiv Oblast's Bohodukhiv district in case of a Russian offensive. [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories – ed.]

Source: Viktor Kovalenko, the Head of Zolochiv Village Military Administration, on Radio Liberty

Quote: "Today, Ivashky is a village literally 800 metres from the border – we have evacuated all the children from there as part of the mandatory evacuation. 140 adult men remain there. Together with volunteers, we conduct daily evacuations of local residents. Only one child remains today in Oleksandrivka, where there were once 47 children. Yesterday, we evacuated children from Tymofiivka, and today, another child will be evacuated from Vidrodzhenivske, and no children will remain there. Some wanted to come back. But there is a certain responsibility, including criminal liability. Everyone has been warned about this."

Details: According to Kovalenko, the situation at the border is no longer as challenging as last week, but he believes that "it is better to be safe, to draw certain conclusions and to prevent the situation".

A total of six villages in Zolochiv hromada have been subjected to mandatory evacuation of children. These are Ivashky, Perovske, Basovo, Tymofiivka, Vidrodzhenivske and Oleksandrivka. Kovalenko stressed that people are taken to their relatives in other settlements or placed in student accommodations, where they are provided with everything they need.

1,740 people are planned to be evacuated from the border village districts of Zolochiv hromada.

Background: On 24 May, Ukraine's Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories announced an agreed decision to forcibly evacuate 123 children from certain settlements in Kharkiv Oblast.

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