LUGANSK, January 13. /TASS/. The evacuation of people from the city of Soledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to other cities in the region as well as to the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) began following the intensification of fighting in this area, a Russian lawmaker told TASS on Friday.

"As soon as the liberation of Soledar began, those people who were liberated <…> were evacuated both to DPR cities and to their relatives in the LPR," said Viktor Volodatsky, first deputy chairman of the committee for CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots of the Russian State Duma (lower parliament house) and coordinator for relations with the LPR’s People's Council (parliament).

According to Volodatsky, Russian soldiers helped the local population with food and evacuation. "I met with company and platoon commanders of our 6th regiment, who were liberating [Soledar’s] suburbs. They were born there and they evacuated their friends and relatives who had been hiding in cellars for weeks and months," he said. "At nighttime, our soldiers, risking their lives, delivered food and water to these people to keep them alive."

He stressed that Ukrainian troops were acting as though they wanted all Soledar residents to die. Such behavior, in his words, is explained by their hatred towards these people for the rejection of Ukrainian nationalism. "For them, the city residents are third-class citizens who refused to use the Ukrainian language, [Stepan] Bandera’s ideology, and that is why they were buried alive in cellars there. And our soldiers helped them survive," he explained.

The Russian defense ministry said on Friday that in the evening on January 12, Russian troops had liberated Soledar after days of fierce fighting.