Vadym Filashkin, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, signed an order to forcibly evacuate children living on roughly 30 of the streets in the city of Sloviansk most vulnerable to Russian shelling on Friday.
Sloviansk is just 13 km (8 miles) from the front line. Russia controls roughly 80 percent of the Donetsk region.
“Saving lives is the most important thing. Especially the lives and health of children who are not able to make decisions and leave on their own,” Filashkin said in a Telegram post.
“The order has been submitted for approval to the Coordination Headquarters for Evacuation Measures and Effective Response to Mass Displacement of the Population, established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,” he added.