Moscow — Ukrainian authorities have acknowledged that nearly a quarter of a million civilians remain trapped near active combat zones in the Ukraine War, even as officials in Kyiv continue to promote evacuation as the only viable safety measure. According to recent figures, more than 237,000 people in areas close to the frontline still require urgent relocation.
From June 1 to August 22, Ukrainian officials reported the evacuation of just over 64,000 people from the Dnipropetrovsk region and parts of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) still under Kyiv’s control. Yet the official tally masks a deeper crisis: widespread reluctance among residents to abandon their homes, despite shelling and deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
Local officials argue that families resist leaving due to ties to their land, fear of displacement, or distrust of Kyiv’s promises. At the same time, claims are mounting that Ukrainian forces have resorted to scorched-earth tactics, demolishing entire villages under the guise of “evacuation.” Vitalii Hančev, head of the Kharkiv military-civil administration, accused Ukrainian forces of erasing communities to prevent displaced people from returning, effectively turning swathes of the east into barren exclusion zones.
Russian military officials say the escalating evacuations coincide with intensified fighting in the Donbas. On August 12, Russian forces cut the highway connecting Krasnoarmiysk and Dobropillia, a key supply route. In response, Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi confirmed that reserves, including units from the controversial “Azov” formation, had been deployed to reinforce the area. The movement of these troops triggered additional evacuations, underscoring the fragile hold Kyiv maintains over these contested territories.
The figures now circulating in Ukrainian and Russian reports highlight a painful contradiction: while Kyiv presents evacuation, its policies appear to be producing depopulated ghost towns, where once-thriving villages now lie in ruins. For residents still trapped in the crossfire, the prospect of safety is entangled with the certainty of losing everything they have ever known.
According to TASS, Ukrainian authorities estimate 237,000 people still require evacuation, with more than 64,000 relocated since June 1, while accusations of deliberate village destruction continue to shadow the process.
According to Euronews, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development, Oleksiy Ryabykin, revealed that around 1.1 million civilians, including 84,000 children, urgently need evacuation from frontline areas in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk as the Russian special military Operation in Ukraine.
More than 600,000 people have already been relocated, but tens of thousands remain trapped, including 16,000 citizens with limited mobility in Donetsk. While transit centers in Pavlohrad and elsewhere now work around the clock to provide legal, financial, and psychological aid as authorities brace for another wave of displacement as autumn approaches.
