No casualties, but plenty of obstacles - Head of the Regional State Administration on the first wave of evacuation from Sumy

Olha Hlushchenko -  Wednesday, 9 March 2022, 03:22

The first wave of evacuations took place in Sumy on 8 March. No casualties but plenty of obstacles reported.

Source: Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, Head of Sumy Regional Military/State Administration, on Facebook, and Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, on Telegram 

According to Tymoshenko: "Around 5,000 people and more than 1,000 private cars are already safe!"

According to Zhyvytskyy: "Escape and the movement of columns was stopped three times.

Once - when a column of aggressor’s vehicles passed by the entrance route to Sumy and "covering shots" were heard from the aggressor - it was dangerous to leave.

Fortunately, no-one was injured.

The other two times were when a column of the aggressor’s vehicles just passed by the entrance route to the city.

We lost a lot of time on it, but we saved the lives of our people. "

Details: Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said that "pregnant women, women with children, the elderly, and people with disabilities" were evacuated as a priority.

Foreign students have also been transported, but not all of them. Some of them still remain in the city.

The head of Regional Military Administration also explained the small number of vehicles: "Many more buses were planned, however most Sumy drivers refused to drive for various reasons in the morning, when the corridors were confirmed."

Background: Two evacuation convoys left seized Sumy through the humanitarian corridor, surrounded by the invaders.