Over 23,000 civilians, 113 children trapped in active combat zones in Donetsk Oblast, official says
Around 23,000 civilians, including 113 children, remain in active combat zones across Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast, Dmytro Petlin, head of the Department of Civil Protection, Mobilization, and Defense Work of the local military administration, said during an online briefing on July 24.
Most of the children are located in the Lyman urban territorial community, where 108 remain, while another five are in the Toretsk community, according to Petlin.
The Donetsk Oblast Military Administration has classified 18 communities as active combat zones, including Shakhovsk, Maryinka, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, Chasiv Yar, Bakhmut, Soledar, Zvaniv Siversk, Illinivsk, Kostiantynivka, Udachne, Lyman, Hrodivka, Kurakhove, Ocheretynske, and Novoselivka.
Ukraine has largely maintained a defensive posture in the east as Russia's summer offensive continues its steady advance.
Ukrainian and Western military experts assess that Russia may escalate its offensive operations during the 50-day period U.S. President Donald Trump allocated for Moscow to reach a ceasefire settlement. In the coming weeks, Russia could realistically push closer to both Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in eastern Donetsk Oblast.
Some 1,380 civilians still remain in Pokrovsk as Russian forces continue their assault on the front-line city in Donetsk Oblast, according to Governor Oleh Filashkin. The town remains one of the most heavily contested battlegrounds of Russia's offensive in eastern Ukraine. According to the open-source battlefield monitoring group DeepState and soldiers on the ground, Russian troops entered the town on July 22.
Petlin said that over the past week alone, more than 2,500 residents were evacuated from their homes in Donetsk Oblast to safer areas outside the region.
Since the start of mandatory evacuations in early August, 2022, Ukrainian authorities have evacuated over 1.23 million civilians from the government-controlled areas of Donetsk Oblast. This figure includes approximately 193,000 children and more than 46,000 people with disabilities.
Despite these efforts, around 265,000 civilians remain in Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donetsk Oblast, according to Petlin.
