The commanders of the Donetsk army have asked the Ukrainian side to let them evacuate people from Uglegorsk. The operation is supposed to take a few hours.
After 12-hour negotiations, the Ukrainian commanders promised not to fire at Uglegorsk till 2:00 p.m.
The request was sent on Monday with no immediate response received from the Ukrainian side. So, the Donetsk side began evacuating people from the outskirts.
According to LifeNews, almost 3,000 individuals – mostly old people and children - are leaving Uglegorsk for the moment. Some of them are in cars, others are walking with their bags in hands.
The self-defenders have given them a couple of buses. Some of the people will be sent to their relatives from other areas of the Donetsk People’s Republic, with the rest first to be settled in Makeyevka and then to be sent to local boarding houses.
According to EAD, on Jan 30 the self-defenders took control of Uglegorsk and planted a flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic on the roof of the local city hall. In the meantime, some Ukrainian forces continued firing at the center from outskirts. If the self-defenders neutralize them, they will take control of Svetlodar-Debaltsevo roadway – a route used for supply of arms and food to the Ukrainian army. Earlier, Lugansk armed forces blocked one more supply line near Debaltsevo.
