Ukrainian servicemen from the 30th separate mechanised brigade are gearing up for test flights of a hexacopter drone in preparation for an upcoming battle mission in the eastern Donetsk region, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. AFP

Ukrainian authorities have mandated the evacuation of children and their families from a town in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have been making significant advances. The recent directive for civilians to leave Borova, a town with an estimated pre-war population of about 5,000, reflects the weakening of Ukrainian defenses. "Due to the current security conditions, the decision to forcibly evacuate children along with their families from the village of Borova in the Kharkiv region has been approved," authorities in Kyiv stated. Moscow's forces, which were initially pushed back from the Kharkiv region, which borders Russia, several months after their February 2022 invasion, have recently regained some ground. "The evacuation to safer regions will be completed within 60 days. A reception and assembly center will be established to facilitate the evacuation," the announcement regarding the evacuations noted.

Across the extensive frontline in eastern Ukraine, the under-resourced and outgunned Ukrainian troops have been losing ground to Russian forces, particularly in the industrial Donetsk region. The governor of the Donetsk region previously reported that all children had been evacuated from the frontline town of Myrnograd, with only a few dozen remaining in the nearby transport hub of Pokrovsk—the primary target of Russian advances. In the Zaporizhzhia region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed along with Donetsk and two other regions, authorities reported on Wednesday that two men, aged 40 and 73, were killed in a drone attack.

Source link:   https://www.khaleejtimes.com