Boryspil mayor calls on civilians to leave town

Boryspil Mayor Volodymyr Borysenko has called on civilians to flee the town located outside Kyiv, near the country’s major airport.

According to Ukrinform, the mayor announced this in a video address he posted on his Facebook page.

"As the practice of those cities where hostilities are now underway, the fewer civilians in the city, the easier it is for the Armed Forces to operate. There is no urgent need to remain in the city as firefights are ongoing around it. I call on the civilian popupation to be smart, reach out to our call center and leave town as soon as an opportunity arises," Borysenko said.

He said this also applied to people from the evacuated territories. According to Borysenko, they will be sent further to the west of Ukraine, to the areas where they would be "relatively safe."

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As Ukrinform reported, Bucha district in Kyiv region is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 declared war on Ukraine and launched a large-scale invasion. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying infrastructure, conducting massive air and artillery raids on residential areas of Ukrainian cities and towns, killing civilians, committing crimes against humanity.