BREAKING: Volodymyr Zelenskyy orders mandatory evacuation of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region

The mandatory evacuation of the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine has been ordered by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In his regular late-night televised address to the people of Ukraine, this Saturday, July 30, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered people living in the besieged region of eastern Donetsk to evacuate. Russian forces have been conducting a severe bombardment campaign of the area over the past few weeks.

Zelenskyy also urged anybody still living in the larger combat areas such as Luhansk, to leave immediately. ‘There are hundreds of thousands of people, tens of thousands of children… Many of these people refuse to leave. But it really needs to be done. This decision will still have to be made’, said the president.

He continued, ‘And the sooner it is done, the more people leave Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill. Therefore, if you have the opportunity, please talk to those who still remain in the combat zones in Donbas’.

‘Please convince them that it is necessary to leave, especially if they are families with children. If you have the opportunity to help displaced people, do it’, he pleaded.

The president added: ‘There is a government decision on mandatory evacuation from the Donetsk region, everything is being organised. Full support, full assistance – both logistical and payments’.‘We only need a decision from the people themselves, who have not yet made it for themselves. Go, we will help’.

‘We are not Russia. That is why every life is important for us. And we will use all available opportunities to save as many lives as possible and to limit Russian terror as much as possible’, he concluded.

It is essential that this evacuation process takes place before the onset of winter, media outlets reported, quoting Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister. All of the region’s gas supplies have been destroyed during the Russian attacks she had reported.

Referencing the Russian forces, Ukraine’s nightly military report said that they had been ‘partially successful in their attempt to take control of Semyhirya. ‘He established himself on the outskirts of the settlement’, they said.

This reportedly occurred after the Russians stormed the Donetsk area south of the town of Bakhmut, from three directions, as reported by metro.co.uk.