More than 1,500 citizens from towns in the Zaporizhia region of southeastern Ukraine have been displaced by Russian forces, the region’s Kremlin-imposed governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Sunday.
“1,552 people, including 632 minors, 145 patients of the psychoneurological center and 10 people with reduced mobility, have already been displaced in an organized manner from the territory of five districts and two frontline cities,” Yevgeny Balitsky wrote in his Telegram. channel.
In addition, he added, some citizens have decided to leave alone in private vehicles from areas considered dangerous.
Balitski announced last Friday the displacement of the most vulnerable population from 18 towns near the front line due to the intensification of the bombardment by Ukrainian troops.
As stated at the time by the Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy of the annexed region, Andrei Kozenko, some 70,000 citizens will be relocated, in an operation that kyiv described as a forced relocation.
Among the evacuated towns is Energodar, where the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located, as well as Tokmak, an important communications center in central Zaporizhia, where Russia fears an attack as part of the counteroffensive it is preparing.
Russian forces control about 70% of the territory of Zaporizhia, neighboring Kherson province, in whose regional capital, controlled by Ukrainian forces, a curfew regime is in force until 03:00 this Monday.
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed growing concern for the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant considering that the situation is becoming potentially dangerous.
“The situation in the area near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a warning on Saturday, ahead of the latest report of the attack, according to the Associated Press (AP) agency.
The concerns of the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog compounded after the governor of the Russian-occupied zone, Yevgeny Balitsky, ordered the evacuation of civilians from that region on Friday.
The nuclear plant is close to the front lines and Ukrainian authorities said a 72-year-old woman was killed and three others wounded when Russian forces fired more than 30 shells at Nikopol, a nearby Ukrainian city.
According to an update posted on Facebook, the General Staff said the first displaced civilians had been granted Russian citizenship after Moscow conquered the city at the start of the war, and were being driven to the Russian-occupied Sea of Azov coast, about 200 kilometers to the southeast.
Since October, Russia has regularly bombarded Ukraine’s main energy facilities with missiles and drones, leaving millions of people living without electricity or heating.
Source: TSF
