Two people were killed and two more were injured when a car with civilians trying to evacuate from Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast came under Russian fire, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported on May 18.
Russia launched new offensive actions on May 10 in the north of Kharkiv Oblast toward Lyptsi and Vovchansk, a town located less than five kilometers (three miles) from the Russian border and around 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the city of Kharkiv.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry confirmed on May 15 that Russian units had entered the northern parts of Vovchansk, but the Ukrainian military reportedly prevented them from establishing a foothold deeper in the town.
Four civilians were trying to leave Vovchansk by car on May 16 when they came under Russian fire, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Telegram.
"The 70-year-old driver of the car and the 83-year-old female passenger died on the spot. The driver's wife and another passenger were injured."
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko previously said that Russian forces were taking Ukrainian civilians captive and preventing their evacuation in the embattled northern part of Vovchansk.
Serhii Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the police of the Kharkiv Oblast, said on May 17 that up to 40 civilians, most of them elderly, had been taken captive when trying to escape Russian shelling.
Francis Farrell
