All children evacuated from 90 settlements in Donetsk Oblast as Russian forces approach

All children have been evacuated from 90 settlements in Donetsk Oblast, while another 4,912 children remain in 30 front-line settlements in Kramatorsk and Bakhmut districts, Governor Vadym Filashkin said on Aug. 21.

Russian artillery and aerial attacks against Donetsk Oblast settlements are a daily occurrence, regularly resulting in civilian deaths and injuries.

The region is also the main target of a Russian offensive push, with towns like Toretsk, Pokrovsk, and Chasiv Yar bearing the brunt of the attack.

"The situation at the front is getting more complicated, and the humanitarian situation is getting more complicated as well. It is important for us and our Western allies to remember this," Filashkin wrote on his Telegram channel.

On Aug. 15, local authorities urged residents of Pokrovsk to evacuate as soon as possible because Russian troops were 10 kilometers from the outskirts of the city.

Pokrovsk is an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian forces that supports their operations in Donetsk Oblast. Around 53,000 people remain in the city.

The obligatory evacuation of children and their families from the Pokrovsk community was announced on Aug. 19.

As Russian forces concentrate more of their recourses on the offensive in Donetsk Oblast, the situation in the area in the Pokrovsk direction remains "extremely challenging," Kyiv acknowledged.

Thousands flee as Russian troops take one Donetsk Oblast village after another

Along a bumpy highway that used to link the cities of Pokrovsk and now occupied Donetsk, used to lie quiet and picturesque towns and villages whose names only locals would know. Yet – Novohrodivka, Selydove, Petrivka – are now well-known in Ukraine, stuck between the advancing Russ…

The Kyiv IndependentEmmanuelle Chaze