Updated June 4th, 2022 at 16:18 IST

Ukraine's Emergency Services evacuated over 1.5 mn people since onset of Russian invasion

Ukraine’s State Emergency Services evacuated over 1.8 million residents since Russian troops launched their assault on the ex-Soviet state in February.

Reported by: Riya Baibhawi
Image: AP | Image:self
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Ukraine’s State Emergency Services has evacuated over 1.8 million residents since Rusisn troops launched their bloody assault on the ex-Soviet state in February. As the conflict completed 100 days on Friday, it was reported that Ukraine’s emergency workers made 32, 468 trips to conflict-hit areas, extinguished over 9,300 fires, rescued 1,397 people and neutralised 128,424 ammunitions. Notably, the Zelenskyy administration earlier called on the international community to assist Ukrainians in clearing mines that have webbed the country's territories. 

"As of June 3, Ukraine’s first responders evacuated more than 1.8 million people, including over 504,000 children and 32,000 people with disabilities," the Zelenskyy administration said in a statement as Russia continued to launch effensives in Ukraine's east.

100 days of Russia-Ukraine war 

Before February 24, the Russian Federation had direct control over the Crimean Peninsula and indirectly administrated the Donbas region through dummy leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk. In the past 100 days, Putin’s troops have managed to occupy one-fifth of Ukraine’s total land area, as revealed by an embattled Zelenskyy on Friday, June 3. Failing to capture the capital Kyiv in the first phase of the so-called military operation, Putin’s army concentrated all their combat on the southern and eastern sides of the country, almost destroying the industrial area of Donbas. 

Major cities including Kherson (partially), Kharkiv and Mariupol remain occupied by Russians. Notably, the western city of Lviv- which is also the cultural capital of Ukraine- has also been targeted in an attempt by Putin to cut off Ukraine's supplies from the west. Half a million strong Mariupol (pre-war count) has suffered the worst. The ancient city and the largest port of Ukraine on the sea of Azov, Mariupol was one of the first cities to be attacked by Russians. After remaining under an agonising siege for weeks, it was finally captured by Russian last month, with thousands of troops and civilians-including children- being allegedly deported to remote parts of the Russian Federation. As per the military experts, the fall of Mariupol has given Moscow the opportunity to establish a ‘vital’ land corridor between the Crimean peninsula and mainland Russia. 

(Image: AP) 

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Published June 4th, 2022 at 16:18 IST