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Calls For Evacuation As Russia Escalates Offensive In Eastern Ukraine [1]
["Rfe Rl'S Ukrainian Service"]
Date: 2022-07
Ukrainian officials have called on civilians to urgently evacuate the city of Slovyansk as Russia escalates its offensive on Ukraine's Donetsk region, heavily shelling the city and other civilian areas.
An intelligence report from the British Defense Ministry on July 6 said that "there is a realistic possibility that the battle for [Slovyansk] will be the next key contest in the struggle for the Donbas."
"Russian forces from the Eastern and Western Groups of Forces are likely now around 16 km north from the town of [Slovyansk]," the intelligence report said.
Slovyansk has been subjected to "massive" Russian bombardment in recent days, with at least two people killed and seven others wounded in an attack on a marketplace on July 5, officials said.
Speaking on July 6, officials said Ukraine had so far thwarted an attempted Russian advance into the north of the Donetsk region.
"We are holding back the enemy on the border of Luhansk region and Donetsk region," Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Hayday told Ukrainian television.
He said Russian regular army and reserve forces had been sent there in an apparent effort to cross the Siverskiy Donets River and that two small settlements just inside Luhansk's borders were the scene of fierce fighting.
"Luhansk region even now is fighting. Almost all the territory has been captured, but in two settlements fighting is ongoing" he told a video briefing.
Vadym Lyakh, the mayor of Slovyansk, told a video briefing on July 6 that the city had been shelled for the last two weeks.
"The situation is tense," he said.
The southern port city of Mykolayiv was also being heavily shelled, Oleksandr Senkevych, its mayor, told a briefing. Russian forces were using multiple-launch rocket systems to shell the city, which has shed about half of its prewar population of half a million people, he said.
"There are no safe areas in Mykolayiv," he said. "I am telling the people of the city that they need to leave."
Earlier, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, told Ukrainian media his "main advice is evacuate!"
"This week there hasn't been a day without shelling," he said late on July 5, adding that the city was now within range of Russian multiple-rocket launchers.
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"The enemy is shelling chaotically, the attacks are aimed at destroying the local population," he said
Kyrylenko also reported shelling across "the entire front line" in the eastern Donbas region, where Russia has refocused its efforts since failing to capture Kyiv, following tough Ukrainian resistance.
To the north of Donetsk, Russian forces also hit Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, with missile strikes overnight, the regional governor said on July 6 on Telegram.
Three districts of the city were targeted, Oleh Synyehubov said. Three people, including a toddler, sustained injuries, he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his evening address on July 5, said he was continuing to press for upgraded anti-missile systems as air-raid alerts sounded across much of the country, including the capital.
"The Russian Army does not take any breaks," he said.
Speaking on July 5, the UN rights chief condemned Russia's "senseless war" in Ukraine as she demanded an end to the "unbearable" civilian suffering unleashed by the invasion.
More than 10,000 civilian deaths or injuries have been documented across Ukraine as of July 3, according to Michelle Bachelet, who said the real figure was likely to be much higher.
At least 335 children were among the 4,889 dead, she said, demanding an end to "unbearable" civilian suffering.
"In the name of every victim of this senseless war, the killings, the torture, the arbitrary detentions must stop," she said in her final appearance before the UN Human Rights Council. Bachelet, 70, is stepping down at the end of her four-year term.
In a speech at the same session, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova accused Russia of kidnappings on a "massive" scale, including of Kherson's mayor, Ihor Kolykhayev, and called for their immediate and unconditional release.
"The whole nation has been subjected to pain and suffering," she said, via video link.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
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