Residential areas of Avdiivka are under shelling. Government is preparing evacuation

Today the militants are continuing the shelling of Avdiivka, where state of emergency was declared due to the lack of supply of heat and water as a result of damages done to the infrastructure.

As reported by Vyacheslav Abroskin, the Chief of the National Police in Donetsk region, there are casualties among the civilians and destruction as a result of shelling.

“The DPR militants shell Avdiivka non-stop. A young man of 1975 year of birth was injured as a result of the shelling of residential building on Kolosova Street at 5 am. He was hospitalized”, – he wrote on Facebook page.

In addition, according to the press center of the brigade, which controls position around Avdiivka, the gas pipe is burning in the city as a result of shelling.

As reported by 72nd Guards Mechanized Brigade on their Facebook page, militants were shelling the “new” part of Avdiivka, which is mostly covered in high-rise buildings.

“Around 7 am the “new” part of Avdiivka was also shelled. Three hits were detected near the hospital and two near high-rise civilian buildings”, – said in a statement.

However, it is stated that Russian militants are ignoring the calls to ceasefire made by the military-civilian administration.

Due to the situation, Pavlo Zhebrivskyi, the Head of the Donetsk regional military and civil administration, declared about the preparation of evacuation of civilians.

According to him, the authorities can relocate up to 8000 people during the day.

“Cities of the region, as of now, are ready to accommodate up to 9 thousand people. The children institutions of the region are ready to accommodate up to a thousand of children at any moment”, – he said.

According to him, 10 tons are approaching the city. Military officers provided additional field kitchens. Five-story building, which was damaged earlier, was inspected in the morning. Repairmen proceeded to repair the damages.

In addition, according to Zhebrivskyi, Caritas Foundation is establishing additional tents in Avdiivka for heating people.

Furthermore, State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that 80 busses are prepared for evacuation of civilians from Avdiivka. The busses can simultaneously evacuate up to 3 thousand people and two suburban electric trains can evacuate up to 1600 people per trip.

“We processed the issue of evacuating 12,000 people in the nearest 10 population centres (Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Pokrovsk, Selydove, Hirnyk, Novgorodske, Ukrainsk, Bakhmut, Sloviansk)”, – said in a statement.

According to Mykola Chechetkin, the Chairman of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, local authorities and emergency response group organized the functioning of 11 warming centres in the territory of Avdiivka.

“The minimum pressure and temperature of coolant (up to 40 degrees) was provided in the heat supply system”, – said in a statement.

The temperature of 15-16 degrees is maintained in the apartments. The work of 14 pre-school and educational institutions was temporarily suspended.

The control over the fire prevention and protection of the coke plant furnaces was established.

“The most important right now is to ensure the ceasefire in Avdiivka, in order to perform emergency recovery work. Currently, 6 pyrotechnic squads of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and bomb disposal engineers of the Ministry of Defense were formed”, – said Vice Prime Minister Hennadiy Zubko.

As a reminder, on January 30, Militants of the illegal armed group of Donetsk have damaged the last power line in Avdiivka: 25 thousand local residents are without electricity, water and heat. The filtration plant and coke plant (which provided heat for Avdiivka) are de-energized.

President Petro Poroshenko interrupted his working visit to Germany due to events near Donetsk.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine calls on the international partners to increase the pressure on the Kremlin due to the conflict in Avdiivka.