Ukrainian civilians continue to flee war

By Mustafa Deveci

KYIV, Ukraine (AA) - As clashes with Russian forces continue across Ukraine, work is underway to evacuate civilians to the relatively more secure capital Kyiv from areas nearby.

Of the civilians evacuated from areas including Bucha and Irpin, those who have no family or friends in the capital either seek refuge at schools or travel to the western part of the country, which is safer.

Many of the elderly have been placed in schools in Kyiv, where volunteers provide food and other necessities.

One of these is School No.115, a kindergarten in the eastern part of the capital accommodating evacuated civilians.

Fifty civilians, most of them older people, are staying here after they had to leave their houses with just a few bags of luggage in tow.

Olya Marchenko, a 73 year old woman evacuated from the Pushcha-Vodytsya area near Kyiv, said her town had been heavily shelled.

"As a result, I, my son, and my grandchild had no choice but to flee and seek refuge in Kyiv," she said.

Teary-eyed, she said her town was targeted when the war began and that they had to stay in primitive shelters at first.

"The shelling destroyed half the houses in my village. There was no electricity or natural gas."

Struggling to recount the difficulties she suffered, Marchenko told Anadolu Agency that she had nobody in Kyiv and nowhere to stay.

"I had to leave the house, where I spent my life, in just two minutes," she added.

Marchenko, along with millions of other Ukrainians who had to leave their homes, were uprooted as a result of the war with Russia that broke out on Feb. 24

More than 2.6 million Ukrainians have so far fled the war-torn country, according to UN figures, with a great majority taking refuge in neighboring countries.

At least 564 civilians have also been killed and 982 injured in Ukraine, according to UN estimates.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara