MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. About 4,500 civilians were evacuated from Artyomovsk and Soledar and basically accommodated in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and many of them wait for an opportunity to return to their homes, Shakhtyorsk Mayor Alexander Shatov said on Thursday.

Soledar is administratively subordinate to Shakhtyorsk and there are plans to place the liberated town of Artyomovsk under its administration as well.

"As of now, about 4,500 civilians, plus or minus 100 people, together with Soledar. These are the people who were evacuated from these two towns," he said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

A small part of the evacuees left for other Russian regions but the larger part of them was accommodated in settlements in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the mayor said.

"The larger part of them wait for an opportunity to return to their home towns," he said, adding that 200 people were accommodated in Shakhtyorsk.

DPR Human Rights Envoy Darya Morozova earlier told TASS that her staff was constantly monitoring the needs of evacuated people. She said that the evacuees were provided with all the necessary items at temporary accommodation centers.

Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin visited Artyomovsk on May 23 and hoisted the republic’s flag over one of the intact administrative buildings in the town. He said that the Ukrainian military had tried to fully destroy the town when it realized that it would not become "an impregnable fortress."

On his part, adviser to the acting DPR head Yan Gagin told TASS that Ukrainian troops laid minefields and blew up large infrastructural facilities while leaving the western outskirts of Artyomovsk. Pushilin later specified that during his trip to the town he did not see civilians because Russian forces evacuated local residents from the combat area as they pushed forward.

Artyomovsk is located in the north of the Donetsk People’s Republic and was a major transportation hub for the Ukrainian army’s supplies in Donbass and a powerful stronghold. The battles for the city began on August 1, 2022 and became some of the most large-scale combats in the liberation of Donbass since 2014. The city was home to some 72,000 people before the battles began. Russian forces completed the liberation of Artyomovsk on May 20, 2023.