Halyna Kukharenko's Rescue from Dobropillia
A 73-year-old woman, Halyna Kukharenko, was evacuated from the city of Dobropillia in the Donetsk region by the 'White Angels' rescue crew after surviving for three weeks without adequate food. During this period, she suffered from hypothermia and a concussion. Her apartment had no electricity, water, or heating, and the windows were shattered. Kukharenko recounted that she survived mostly on tea, stating:
“I didn't eat, I only drank tea. In the apartment, the windows are broken, everything. I could still walk around the house, but now I've gotten too cold.”
A local man named Dmytro found her and insisted on her evacuation. He brought her food, including porridge and a cutlet, but she said she could no longer eat much. Her despair was evident:
“I don't care about anything anymore. Well, they took me out. For me, probably... I'm just a bother. I'm no good anymore.”
Following the evacuation, Halyna Kukharenko was taken to an assembly point where she received first aid. Plans were then made to transport her to a transit center in Lozova, located in the Kharkiv region.
The Wider Regional Crisis
According to Vitalii Holovatenko, deputy head of the city's military administration, over 1,300 people remain in Dobropillia. In a separate operation, 14 residents were evacuated from Kupiansk, including three minors—one of them a two-year-old child—and taken to Kharkiv. The human toll of the ongoing war is severe, particularly for vulnerable groups like the elderly and children. Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, has emphasized the urgent need for legislation to mandate the forced evacuation of children from active combat zones.
The situation in frontline regions remains critical, with Halyna Kukharenko's ordeal highlighting the dire humanitarian challenges faced by civilians under constant shelling. These evacuations underscore the extreme dangers for those who stay behind, often due to a lack of resources or mobility. Calls for compulsory child evacuations reflect the growing necessity for decisive action to protect the most vulnerable in conflict areas.