Russians shot civilians in Avdiivka - AFU officer

At the time when the Russian occupants were trying to break into Avdeevka, Donetsk region, from the side of the Tsarskaya Okhota camping site, they were approached by civilians who had not gone to a safe territory, but were "waiting for the Russian world". The invaders shot them. About it on air "KIEV24" told the officer of the 59th separate motorised infantry brigade named after. Yakov Gandziuk Sergey Tsekhotsky.

He emphasised that the representatives of the authorities and directly the military of the Avdiivka garrison made every effort to evacuate all civilians from Avdiivka.

GVA Chairman Barabash, volunteers, police and military did everything to get people out of there. There was such an opportunity, everything was working. But there are elderly people who decided to accept death exactly at home, in their ruins, unfortunately. There were also those who were probably waiting for this "Russian peace", but I want to emphasise that when there was an attempt to break through the "Tsar's Hunt", when they came to the outskirts of the city, they shot these joyful people who were waiting there. These people were very surprised that this is how they were met by their 'asvabadisers'," Tsekhotskyy noted.

It should be noted that before the Russians seized Avdeevka, more than 900 people remained on its territory. Most of them are elderly people. Ukrainian volunteers, police and military personnel were taking out three or four people every day, but many were unwilling to leave their homes and go for various reasons, including fear of the road constantly shelled by the Russians. All the while the fighting for the town was going on, people were helped with water and food.

On the night of 17 February, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyy, said that, in accordance with the order received, the defenders of Avdiivka had withdrawn from the city to pre-prepared positions.