UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Jul 25 — About 20 people who do not want to leave continue to live in Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, Maksym Stetsyna, head of the Vovchansk police department, reported to Gwara Media.

Towns and villages of the Kharkiv Oblast come under massive Russian artillery shelling and air strikes often, even more so since Russia launched a new ground offensive north and northeast of the region in the Vovchansk and Lyptsi directions in May.

According to Maksym Stetsyna, these people live far from the center of Vovchansk but are still in danger.

“Two days ago, we got a civilian with injuries who had been in Vovchansk all the time and was constantly changing her place of residence. She was changing her location because her houses were destroyed by the [Russian] attacks. Recently, she was injured, and the military brought her to us,” the police officer said.

Law enforcement officers evacuated the woman to Kharkiv, where she received medical care.

Oleh Syniehubov, Kharkiv Oblast Governor, said in an interview with Ukrinform that the Russians killed dozens of civilians in Vovchansk. This information became known thanks to the military’s video from copters, but the details about exact number of killed and injured will be available only after the liberation of the territory.

Police and the Prosecutor’s Office reported the first documented cases of Russian troops executing civilians in Vovchansk within a week after Russia launched a new ground offensive north of Kharkiv. 

Ukrainian authorities and law enforcement agencies also spoke about cases of Russians taking civilians prisoner and not allowing them to evacuate from the city. 

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