Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine

DPR: Ukrainian Militants Preventing Evacuation of Civilians From Volnovakha

DONETSK (Sputnik) – Ukrainian militants are creating obstacles for the evacuation of civilians from Volnovakha, hindering their access to humanitarian corridors, the territorial defence department of the Donetsk People's Republic reported on Saturday.
Sputnik
Earlier in the day, the Russian military declared a ceasefire so that civilians could evacuate from the cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha. The ceasefire window opened at 07:00 GMT.
"Militants of VFU [armed formations of Ukraine] are preventing the evacuation of civilians from Volnovakha ... They are intentionally not providing the necessary assistance to those in need so that they could not leave the Volnovakha settlements," the department said on its Telegram channel.
A total of 24 civilians, including four natives of Volnovakha, have been evacuated from the Mykolaivka village to Novyi Svit, it added. Some civilians remain in basements of destroyed residential buildings in Volnovakha, unable to get out on their own, it said.
"The nationalists refused to provide a humanitarian corridor to the residents of Mariupol," the department said.
The Ukrainian troops are demanding on social media that civilians refuse to leave the city as the decision on the evacuation has allegedly not yet been made, it added.
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