Militants Refuse Exit of Bus with Women and Children from “LPR”

“LPR” militants refused to allow a Ukrainian bus carrying 45 women and children to leave the territory of the so-called republic.

This was reported to TVRain, a Russian independent television channel, by Victoria Ivleva, a volunteer for the Russian Charity Predanie. Her organization is engaged in the transporting those who do not have 600 hryvnia needed to pay for buses that go between the “DNR” / “LPR” and territory controlled by Ukraine.

“Forty-five people were on the bus. We tried to get them out, and now they were all turned back. They were brought to Luhansk, where local television was already waiting for them at the regional administration building. They began to intimidate them, talking about the horrors of life in Ukraine,” said Ivleva.

She spent about four hours at the last checkpoint before the liberated territory of Stanytsia Luhanska, where the bus was detained. Her phone, records, and, most importantly, the lists of those wishing to leave the territory of the “LPR” were seized. In these lists, according to Ivleva, were mothers of large families, children, and elderly people who cannot leave on their own. The youngest on the list is two months old.

Evgeny Kaplin, a volunteer with the Humanitarian Mission Proliska, added that a three-month old infant from Luhansk who urgently needs to be hospitalized was among those who were not allowed to enter Ukrainian-controlled territory.

It was also noted that, at the time of arrest, the militants intimidated people on the bus with what awaited them in Ukraine: violence from the Ukrainian military, forced orphanage placement for the children, etc.

 “LPR” representatives contacted Kaplin and complained that volunteers take people to the territory controlled by Ukraine. Volunteers emphasize that they only take those who turned to their hotline or to members of other volunteer initiatives, and that all of those who were detained in the bus wanted to leave the territory voluntarily.