A decision has been made in Donetsk region to expand the zone of mandatory forced evacuation of children. As Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, announced, this concerns certain settlements in the Sviatohorska, Slavianska, and Novodniska territorial communities. In his words, all measures are aimed at preventing new casualties among underage residents of frontline areas.
Evacuation mechanism and participants
Children will be evacuated accompanied by their parents, persons acting in their place, or legal representatives. Local military administrations, police, rescuers, and the child affairs service have been involved in organizing the process. Filashkin emphasized that civilians will be accompanied by specialized services at every stage — from leaving the danger zone to arriving at reception points and subsequent placement in safer regions of Ukraine. "We are making all decisions with one goal — to prevent new casualties among children. I ask parents not to delay and not to put their children in danger," the head of the Regional Military Administration stated.
Context: previous waves of forced evacuation
The decision to expand the evacuation zone in Donetsk region is not a one-off. Recently, mandatory evacuation of the entire population was declared from two more villages of the Slavianska rural community — relocation is being carried out to the Synelnykovske district of Dnipropetrovsk region. In addition, in Dnipropetrovsk region the forced evacuation of families with children has already been expanded, affecting residents of 23 settlements across three communities. Thus, the practice of forcibly relocating minors from frontline zones is becoming a systematic measure at the level of several regions.
Contradictory data
Publications by various outlets show discrepancies in the specifics of coverage. RBC-Ukraine, citing Filashkin's statement, uses the wording "certain settlements" of three communities without specifying an exact number. At the same time, KP reports in its publication on the mandatory evacuation of children "from another 19 settlements." Liga.net, for its part, records the evacuation of families with children "from certain streets of Slaviansk and Kramatorsk," which may indicate a narrower, targeted coverage within individual streets rather than entire villages. The difference in figures and geographic precision may be explained by the fact that the statements were made on different days and concern different stages of the zone expansion, or by the fact that some sources cite data from an earlier or later snapshot. The exact number of affected settlements at the time of publication remains subject to clarification.
Reaction and practical consequences
Photographs taken during the evacuation operations show yellow school buses with the inscription "Shkilnyi avtobus" (school bus), to which residents with luggage and children are approaching. The scenario assumes the accompaniment of families from their place of residence to safe placement points. The involvement of police and rescue services indicates that if parents refuse voluntary departure, the evacuation may be carried out forcibly, which is consistent with the current legislation on mandatory evacuation under martial law.
