Jakarta –
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky ask residents in the area Donetsk east for evacuation. Where the location became the site of a fierce battle with Russia.
In his late-night televised address, Zelensky said hundreds of thousands of people were still in the battle zone in the greater Donbas region, which contains Donetsk as well as the neighboring Luhansk region. He ordered his citizens to leave.
“The more people leave the Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will kill,” he said, adding that residents who left would be compensated.
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Separately, Ukrainian domestic media quoted Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk as saying evacuations needed to take place before winter began as natural gas supplies in the region had been destroyed.
“Many refuse to go but it has to be done,” Zelensky said.
“If you have the chance, please speak to those still in the battle zone in Donbas. Please reassure them that it is necessary to leave,” he continued.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukraine’s military said more than 100 Russian troops had been killed and seven tanks destroyed in fighting in the south on Friday, including the Kherson region which is the focus of Kyiv’s counter-offensive in that part of the country and a key link in Moscow.
(eva/eva)
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