MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. Rescuers of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic have failed to evacuate residents of the village of Chernukhino near the Debaltsevo combat area amid shelling from Kiev military, a spokesman for the LPR emergencies ministry said on Saturday.

Alexander Vinnik said that rescue units had failed to move further than a checkpoint on the outskirts of the town of Zorinsk because of intense artillery shelling from the Ukrainian side.