“Every intensification of the war means the risk of new refugee movements,” the head of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) told the AFP news agency in Kyiv on Thursday. “We have to prepare for it.”
“Every time the fighting intensifies, people naturally want to get to safety,” said Grandi. This was also the case when the fighting around Mariupol and Cherson intensified. In view of the current developments in eastern Ukraine, the UNHCR chief appealed to the government in Kyiv and also to neighboring countries: “Be ready, prepare for all eventualities.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Russia had increased military pressure in the battle for the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Moscow is sending a large number of soldiers and a lot of military equipment and weapons into battle. The Ukrainian troops have already had to withdraw from the previously fiercely contested town of Soledar, which is about 15 kilometers north-east of Bakhmut. (SDA)