President Zelensky has called for the evacuation of the Donetsk region, the main theater of fighting in the east of the country.

He needs “Save as many lives as possible”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday, July 30, called on his people to leave the Donetsk region in the country’s east, which is largely controlled by Russian forces and under constant bombardment. “The government has decided to forcefully evacuate the Donetsk region. Please clear”He said in a speech broadcast on social media.

“Many people refuse to leave, but you have to,” He insisted. “At this stage of the war, Russia’s main weapon is terrorism. We are not precisely Russia because every life is important to us. We will use every available opportunity to save as many lives as possible and contain Russian terrorism as much as possible.

A duty to act before the fall

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had earlier announced the mandatory evacuation of the entire population of Donetsk, one of the two administrative regions of the Donbass industrial basin. He justified this decision in televised announcements as the gas networks were destroyed and there was no heat the following winter. He says the move will be effective before the fall, and those who oppose it do so at their own peril.

Ukrainian officials estimate that at least 200,000 civilians, including 52,000 children, still live in the territories of the Donetsk region that are not under Russian occupation.