Volunteers criticize Ukrainian authorities for bad evacuation conditions in eastern Ukraine
KYIV. Aug 1 (Interfax) - The people of the regions where the Ukrainian troops are fighting the militia have not been provided with proper possibilities for evacuation, representative of volunteer organizations said.
Oleksandr Horbatko, the main coordinator of the public initiative Donbas SOS, told a press conference in Kyiv on Friday that most citizens who live in eastern Ukraine are in an information blockade. "They don't know about evacuation routes, about green corridors, trains, and buses. They don't have information on the housing provided to them by the state and on social payments, they can't understand what will happen to their children and how they will be employed," Horbatko said.
Alexei Fedchenko, coordinator of the mutual assistance center Save Ukraine, said volunteer organizations have sent a letter to Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk calling for the creation of a unified state coordination center in the government involving representatives of public organizations. He said the center should be given the powers to make decisions, stating specific people in charge of them and the time allowed for resolving problems associated with assistance to people leaving eastern Ukraine.
Volunteers are also calling for an increase in automobile and railroad transport connecting the areas of the military operation to regional centers, saying people leaving eastern Ukraine should not pay any money for tickets. They believe there is currently not enough transport for evacuation. The volunteers also believe there is a need to organize transit points depending on the situation in the area of the military operation, to which unimpeded access should be provided.
