DONETSK, April 5. /TASS/. The decision to evacuate people from the line of engagement in Donbass once the situation exacerbated in February 2022 was the only right choice to make, DPR Ombudswoman Darya Morozova said on Wednesday.
"Taking into account direct threats to the lives and well-being of Donbass residents, including minors, the decision to evacuate was the only right choice. This was not a crime like the Ukrainian political establishment tries to present it today but a rescue operation for innocent people," she said via a video link during an informal meeting of the UN Security Council on the issue of children evacuated from the zone of the Ukrainian conflict.
Morozova noted that only during the week preceding the start of the evacuation, Ukrainian troops fired almost 100 shells banned by the Minsk Accords in the DPR, while the soldiers were instructed to fire at will without coordinating their actions with their commanders. Under these circumstances, the evacuation was the only right decision because after eight years of conflict, the DPR understood perfectly well the repercussions of the escalation on the part of Kiev. "At the onset of the special military operation, Ukrainian bombardments have already killed 4,374 civilians, including 91 children, on our soil. Almost 8,000 civilians have sustained wounds of various degree of severity, including 323 children, with at least 27 of them becoming disabled," the human rights commissioner reiterated.
As early as February 18, 2022, DPR authorities decided to organize the evacuation of residents. According to Morozova, it included the evacuation of "71 charges from three infant orphanages, […] 761 orphans and children left without parental guardianship and 165 wards of children social centers."
She stressed that all other children left the DPR-controlled territory together with their parents with local authorities and Russia taking exhaustive measures to ensure their safety. "Moreover, they acted strictly in the children’s interests and within the legal framework, including the provisions of international humanitarian law," the ombudswoman asserted.