DPR militias evacuate about 600 civilians from Uglegorsk — DPR ombudswoman

World February 03, 2015, 21:43

According to the ombudswoman, the Ukrainian side continued to shell the town, despite a temporary ceasefire agreement

DONETSK, February 3. /TASS/. Militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have evacuated about 600 civilians from the zone of combat operations in the town of Uglegorsk via a humanitarian corridor, DPR’s ombudswoman Darya Morozova said on Tuesday.

"DPR militias are helping people to leave the town. As of now, about 600 people, mostly children and the elder, have been evacuated," the Novorossia press center quoted her as saying.

Evacuated people are accommodated in the settlement of Yenakiyevo, in Donetsk and in other populated localities, she said.

She noted that despite a temporary ceasefire agreement, the Ukrainian side continued to shell the town. "The Ukrainian side never stopped shelling the town to let people be evacuated," Morozova said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Petro Kanonik, Ukraine’s head of the coordinating group on ceasefire, told the Ukrainskaya Pravda that the parties had agreed to create a humanitarian corridor for residents of Uglegorsk and Debaltsevo. "We have reached an agreement on a humanitarian corridor from Uglegorsk from 09:00 a.m. till 17:00. A humanitarian corridor from Debaltsevo will be open from 14:00 till 17:00," he said.

"We officially applied for a ceasefire around Debaltsevo and are ready to evacuate civilians from the settlements of Debaltsevo, Uglegorsk, Svetlodarsk and Mironovskoye, and to secure the regime of silence there from ten in the morning till five in the afternoon," he said, adding that the ceasefire in those areas had been observed. "So far, there is no shooting in those areas," Kanonik said.

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