MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. More than 120 children will be forcibly evacuated from four border districts of Kharkov Region in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ministry of Reintegration of Uncontrolled Territories reports.
"The decision on the mandatory evacuation of children by their legal representatives from certain settlements of the Kharkov Region has been coordinated. We are talking about orphans and children without parents. <...> The mandatory evacuation of 123 children is planned to be carried out from 36 settlements of Bogodukhov, Izium, Kupyansk, and Chuguev districts," a message on the Telegram channel of the department states.
The children will be taken to the Volyn Region in western Russia.
Earlier, the head of the military administration of the Kharkov Region Oleg Sinegubov informed that 11,018 residents had been evacuated from the border districts of the Kharkov Region since May 10.
Kiev acknowledges that the situation in the Kharkov Region is extremely difficult for the Ukrainian troops. On May 14, the Ukrainian General Staff announced that the Ukrainian armed forces were forced to "relocate to more advantageous positions" near Volchansk and Lukyantsy. The military command also announced that additional reserves were relocated to the region. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky acknowledged that some of these forces are being withdrawn from other areas. On May 16, he had a meeting with the commander-in-chief, calling the situation there extremely difficult. The Russian Defense Ministry has reported the liberation of a number of settlements in the Kharkov Region; on May 14, it reported that the advance deeper into enemy defense continued.