6:30 a.m.: Evacuations in northeastern Ukraine in the face of the Russian advance
Faced with the advance of the Russian army in northeastern Ukraine, a decree signed by local authorities ordered the evacuation of 37 localities in the Kupiansk district, an important communication node. These are mainly villages located near the front, on the left bank of the Oskil River. “The evacuation began yesterday, when the order was signed,” Kupiansk city military administration chief Andriy Besedin said Thursday.
The administration of Kupiansk, a city of about 25,000 inhabitants before the war, recommended in the morning that its inhabitants evacuate in the direction of Kharkiv, the regional capital, in particular, because of “the difficult security situation and of the increase in the number of bombardments”.