A total of nearly 37,000 residents have been evacuated from Sumy Oblast, including over 6,400 children, as efforts are ongoing to evacuate more residents under expanded mandatory evacuation orders, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration said on Oct. 13.
Sumy Oblast, located on Ukraine's northeast border with Russia, is subject to daily attacks, and is situated just across from Russia's Kursk Oblast - the region subject to Ukraine's ongoing incursion.
In recent months, Russian troops have significantly increased the use of guided aerial bombs near the border areas of Sumy Oblast.
Officials said in late August that are planning to evacuate a total of 45,000 residents from Sumy Oblast. Since then, an additional 16,000 people have been evacuated from the region, including 535 adults and 143 children in the past week.
The evacuations continue after local authorities on Sept. 30 further ordered mandatory evacuation of children accompanied by their parents from an expanded area within the 10-kilometer zone bordering Russia.
All residents within the 10-kilometer zone bordering Russia have already been evacuated entirely, the military administration noted.
On Oct. 13, Russia attacked six communities in Sumy Oblast causing 21 explosions throughout the day, the military administration reported. Residents in the region have typically experience living through hundreds of explosions on a daily basis.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
