UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, June 14 — The Russian military is deporting residents of the occupied Lyptsi community, Kharkiv region, to Orel in Russia, the head of the Lyptsi village military administration, Oleksii Slabchenko, told Gwara Media.

The Ukrainian military has stabilized the frontline north and northeast of the Kharkiv region, where Russia launched a new ground offensive in May. Currently, heavy fighting is ongoing in and around Vovchansk and on Lyptsi axis.

“Residents of the occupied villages told us that they [the Russian military – ed.] came with a list, arrested and took four people in an unknown direction,” said Slabchenko.

Slabchenko said that 21 people lived in Hlyboke village during the Russian occupation, and now only three are left. The village head is aware of cases of residents dying from Russian attacks, but it is impossible to establish the number of deaths before the deoccupation of the village.

“One of the residents who was in the village of Pylna at the time of the occupation came to us [Lyptsi community ]. He and his wife evacuated to the government-controlled territory of Ukraine in their car through Russia. The man said that the Russians did not allow other residents to leave and did not provide assistance. We know that the Russians are taking people to the city of Orel in the Russian Federation,” said Slabchenko.

He noted that some residents were able to leave the community’s occupied territories and return to the Kharkiv region. One family was evacuated to Latvia, and one person to Germany.

The Lyptsi community is in the north of the region and stretches for 24 miles along the state border. Until February 24, 2022, 13,500 people lived there, but on the first day of the full-scale invasion, the Russian army occupied the community. On September 11, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the deoccupation of the territory.

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