Russian troops do not let civilians to evacuate from Vovchansk — volunteer Bielov

He shared the information on Espreso TV.

“From the first day of the enemy advance in the Kharkiv region, the volunteer community began to evacuate civilians from the Vovchansk and Lyptsi directions. Today, we go every day and evacuate a lot of people from the front line, from the frontline areas, whom we accommodate in Kharkiv and then help them. Now it is almost impossible to evacuate from Vovchansk itself because the enemy is constantly shelling civilians leaving the town on foot. The occupiers simply do not allow people to evacuate,” the volunteer said.

According to him, in order to escape, civilians go to other settlements at night, where they are picked up by volunteer crews.

“The evacuation is not as active now because many people have already left. And those citizens who remain there are either unable to leave due to physical disabilities or because the Russians do not allow them to leave. There are cases of people being shot who wanted to go on foot to the evacuation zone. People were either prevented from leaving by enemy FPV drones, or the Russians shot them in the street, or fired at the place where volunteers and police in armor were working to take away civilians. So now the evacuation has become more difficult. Evacuations from other frontline areas where people want to leave are actively underway,” summarized Yevhen Bielov.

• On May 20, there were reports that the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine controlled Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, by 60%, but Russian troops continued assault operations. The head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said that the city was fighting for every house and street.

• On May 21, the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said that in Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, where the battle for the town is currently underway, there are about 100 more locals in the territory occupied by Russian troops, who are not letting them evacuate, threatening to shoot them.