UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Mar 12 — Four children and their families evacuated from the Kupiansk district during the day. 

In total, 73 children have been evacuated from two communities: 28 from Vilkhuvatka and 45 from Velykyi Burluk, reported the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov.

This is because the Russian Federation has intensified shelling of border settlements in the Kharkiv Oblast. Russia hits about ten frontline and border settlements in the region with airstrikes every day, Syniehubov said.

During the past day, the Russian military shelled at least 20 towns and villages in the Kharkiv Oblast with artillery and mortars, including Dvorichna, Synkivka, Petropavlivka, Ivanivka, Berestove, Huriv Kozachok, Hatyshche. 

They also hit Muravske, Bolohivka, Odnorobivka, Kozacha Lopan, Kupiansk, and Kivsharivka with airstrikes. There were no casualties.

Oleh Syniehubov said that, on March 7, the Kharkiv Regional Defence Council decided to forcefully evacuate children with their parents or guardians in 18 settlements of the Velykyi Burluk and Vilkhuvatka territorial communities.

About the situation in the Kupiansk community

On February 20, during a telethon, the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said that the Russian troops intensified shelling of the border areas of the Kharkiv Oblast and continued to storm the positions of Ukrainian defenders in the Kupiansk direction. Russians tried to occupy favorable heights and hold Kupiansk as an important logistics hub. However, despite the accumulation of Russian forces, the Ukrainian military is holding back the pressure and not giving up their positions.

On February 24, Ukrainian politician Oleksandra Ustynova said in a commentary for the German state radio and TV channel Deutsche Welle that the next target of Russian President Vladimir Putin after the occupation of Avdiivka could be Kupiansk and then Kharkiv. This could happen if Western partners do not increase aid and Ukraine does not receive ammunition, longer-range missiles, and the promised F-16 fighter jets.

Read more