The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the DPR, Alexei Kostrubitsky, said that the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic plans to evacuate from 500,000 to 700,000 people. It is reported by RIA Novosti.
“Tentatively, the figure for the evacuation is from 500 to 700 thousand people,” he said during a meeting with the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin.
Earlier in Lugansk there was a powerful explosion, according to preliminary data, on the Druzhba gas pipeline.
The evacuation was announced today, February 18, by the heads of the republics. They explained the removal of residents by the preparation of an offensive operation by the armed forces of Ukraine. According to the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, the Donetsk military daily records the increase in the number of lethal weapons by the Ukrainian army, including the Smerch and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems, as well as the American Javelin and Stinger man-portable missile systems.
Subsequently, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny said that Kiev was not going to restore control over certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by force.
bbabo.Net