The Russian forces are submitting fake civilian evacuation requests to lure out volunteers involved in the evacuation efforts in Donetsk oblast, Yevhen Tkachov, Proliska Humanitarian Mission manager in Donetsk oblast reports to Hromadske Radio.
“Unfortunately, there have been some cases, but the police are helping us, thankfully. We are vetting the calls, because there have been several that we interpreted as provocation: from the Russians, to lure volunteers into some kind of trap. So we must take this into account,” said Yevhen Tkachov.
The situation is complicated on the outskirts of Druzhkivka that face Russian positions, said Tkachov, speaking in terms of evacuation from Donetsk oblast.
“People have this illusion: they live in a city, the front is far away, shops and banks operate relatively safely, sometimes there is power supply. But Russian drones have already started to take over the roads in these areas, targeting civilian cars and civilians,” said the Proliska representative.
The most difficult situation is in Kostyantynivka. Families with children remain there despite the constant shelling, lack of water supply, gas, or electricity.
“Yesterday or the day before yesterday, a family with two children in Kostyantynivka had to take a bicycles trip to get water. Can you imagine? Not only are there still children there, but they were also riding along with their parents to get water during a shelling strike. The family was injured in the strike. And these, unfortunately, are not one-off cases,” stressed Yevhen Tkachov.
He said that civilians from Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, and nearby municipalities no longer call volunteers with evacuation requests because they have no means of phone connection. However, those civilians who want to leave go to the soldiers, who, in turn, contact the volunteers. Moreover, relatives of those who remain in Pokrovsk or Myrnohrad sometimes contact the volunteers.
On 20 November 2025, a Russian FPV drone struck at an evacuation vehicle near Lyman (Donetsk oblast). The car was carrying by Serhiy Horbatenko, a correspondent with the Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty project Donbas Realii.
