Evacuation police group White Angel launched in Avdiivka

Police officers from the city of Avdiivka created an evacuation crew White Angel. They will be evacuating civilians, providing first aid, delivering humanitarian assistance, and transporting the bodies of fallen soldiers. Source: Main Department of the National Police in Donetsk Oblast.

The White Angel crew includes natives of Avdiivka - police officers Hennadii Yudin and Dmytro Solovii. They have been rescuing residents of the Ocheretyne hromada [an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories - ed.]  since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion.  To perform the evacuation, law enforcement officers were trained in tactical medicine, and their cars are armoured and equipped with children's bulletproof vests, first-aid kits, etc.

Evacuation of a child. Photo: National Police

"Avdiivka is a strategically important city. Since 2014, fighting has been going on here, which has recently significantly intensified. About 2,000 residents and 14 children in need of rescue remain in the city.

Therefore, together with the National Police, we found an opportunity and organised another crew, White Angel, the fifth in our oblast," said Ruslan Osypenko, Head of Donetsk Oblast police.

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Five evacuation crews cover the Avdiivka, Bakhmut, Velyka Novosilka, Marinka and Lyman fronts. The police evacuated over 5,000 civilians, of which more than 400 were children.

The citizens living among ruins

During the first flight, they took eight-year-old Daryna, her family and their parrot Lymonchyk ( Lemon), out of a bomb shelter to the city of Myrnohrad.

"Despite the difficult situation, the child persistently studied remotely - this was possible thanks to the generator. But most of all, Darynka dreamed of attending a gymnastics class," said the National Police. Law enforcement officers noted that the girl was initially scared and carefully examined her broken hometown through the car window and asked the police again if this trip was safe.

But after arriving in Myrnohrad, she smiled more often and rushed to the playground.

Daryna and her parrot Lymonchyk after evacuation

The hotline of the White Angel evacuation group on the Avdiivka front is 066 56 19 102.

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