DONETSK, July 12 /ITAR-TASS/. Government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has started evacuation of peaceful population from the town of Maryinka bordering on the city of Donetsk in the west, the battleground of the DPR militia and Ukraine’ regular army, DPR Prime Minister Alexander Borodai said on Saturday.

“First of all, we are evacuating children,” Borodai said. “The refugees are heading for Russia and now we can speak about several hundreds of refugees.”

Many residents are fleeing the area of the armed conflict on their own - by personal or municipal transport, he said.

Ukraine’s military continue bombardment of Maryinka, damaging a feed-milling factory, a dairy, a tire factory and a seepage station.

According to unverified data, the death toll in Maryinka stands at 30.