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DPR leader orders evacuation of civilians still staying in Debaltsevo — transport ministry

DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko has ordered to evacuate the civilians still living with no food, electricity, water or heating, the local transport ministry press service says

MOSCOW, February 17./TASS/. The transport ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has dispatched buses to evacuate the civilians still staying in the besieged town of Debaltsevo, its press service reports.

Early on Tuesday, "the head of the DPR, [Alexander] Zakharchenko, ordered to furnish motor transport and evacuate today the civilians still staying in Debaltsevo," the Donetsk news agency quotes the press service as saying. "People have been staying in basements for a long time, with no food, electricity, water or heating," it said.

Initial plans were to send ten buses, but five have been dispatched as of yet, the ministry says. People are already boarding the buses, he has said, adding that more buses could be sent if necessary.

People can choose whether to stay in the DPR or go to Russia to their relatives, the ministry says.

Under earlier reports of the republic’s defense ministry, militias of the DPR and the LPR control the railway station and outskirts in Debaltsevo's eastern part.