Hundreds of children among evacuees as Ukraine expected to start long-anticipated counteroffensive
Russian forces are evacuating residents from the area near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, with more than 1,600 people, including 660 children, evacuated so far, a Moscow-installed official in the region has said.
The head of the UN’s nuclear power watchdog warned on Saturday that the situation around the plant had become “potentially dangerous”. Ukraine is soon expected to start a much-anticipated counteroffensive to retake Russian-held territory, including in the Zaporizhzhia region
“[The evacuees] have already been placed in the temporary accommodation centre for residents of the frontline territories of the Zaporizhzhia region in Berdiansk,” Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed governor of the Russia-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia region, said.
Berdiansk is a south-eastern Ukrainian port city on the coast of the Sea of Azov which has been occupied by Russia since the early days of Moscow’s invasion.
