Ukraine evacuates 3,000 children from Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk due to Russian advance
In a development reflecting the intensification of fighting on the eastern and southern fronts, Ukrainian authorities issued urgent orders on Friday to evacuate more than 3,000 children and their families from approximately 40 villages and towns in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. This decision comes amid significant advances by Russian forces in recent months, which have placed these populated areas within direct firing range.
Details of the forced eviction decision
Ukrainian Reconstruction Minister Oleksiy Kuleba announced via Telegram that, due to the deteriorating security situation and the difficulty of protecting civilians in areas near the contact line, a forced evacuation of more than 3,000 children and their families from 44 villages along the front line has been ordered. Kuleba explained that this measure is necessary to save lives in light of the ongoing shelling and intense fighting.
The minister noted that the evacuations were not a spontaneous event, but rather part of an ongoing strategy, citing similar operations carried out in the final days of December in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine. He revealed alarming statistics indicating that the total number of people evacuated from frontline areas to safer regions since June 1, 2025, had reached approximately 150,000, including nearly 18,000 children, highlighting the scale of the humanitarian crisis.
The strategic importance of the targeted areas
This move carries significant military and strategic implications. The Zaporizhzhia region is a key focal point of the conflict, home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, and the front line there remained relatively stable for extended periods before recent shifts. Dnipropetrovsk, which Russian forces entered in the summer of 2015, is a vital industrial and logistical hub for central Ukraine. The fighting reaching these areas threatens to sever Ukrainian supply lines and increase pressure on Kyiv.
The context of the war and the expansion of the confrontations
The Ukrainian authorities' announcement of this large-scale evacuation reflects the extent of the change in the map of field control. After forced evacuations were mainly concentrated in the eastern Donetsk region, which witnessed the fiercest battles throughout the years of the war, the extension of the need for evacuation to Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia indicates the expansion of the Russian offensive and its ability to open new fronts or activate fronts that were relatively quiet.
Military experts confirm that large-scale evacuations of civilians often precede major military operations or intense bombardments, as the defending side seeks to avoid civilian casualties and facilitate the movement of its forces without civilian interference, while the attacking side aims to seize territory. Civilians, especially children, remain the most vulnerable in this ongoing conflict, forced to leave their homes and face the fate of internal displacement under extremely complex economic and social conditions.
