UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, May 15 — Police, volunteers, and rescuers evacuated 7,991 people from the border communities of Kharkiv oblast, reports Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov. 

Russia started a new ground offensive from north and northeast of Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of May 10. They support the advancement of their troops with artillery and mortar shelling and gliding bomb strikes. 

According to Syniehubov, police and rescuers have evacuated 2,202 residents from the Chuhuiv district, 3,533 from the Kharkiv district, and 79 from the Bohoduhiv district. Volunteers evacuated 2,177 people. 

State Emergency Service in Kharkiv oblast reported that, since the start of the Russian assault in Kharkiv, 760 children have been evacuated from the border communities of the region. 

On May 14, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Kharkiv oblast opened two investigations into the murder of a civilian in Starytsia village of Vovchansk community and the disappearance of another civilian from the area. A Russian soldier shot a 46-year-old resident of Starytsia point-blank. Investigators don’t know where the missing man is, but they know Russian soldiers attacked him on the same day. 

Gwara Media was in Vovchansk, a city that’s one of the main goals of Russian troops in this Kharkiv offensive, and talked to people who were fleeing their homes (or staying) under heavy bombardment. Read the field report here. 

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