A group of orphans blocked in a clinic in Ukraine was evacuated to pro-Russian area

A group of children, mostly orphans, who were blocked in a clinic in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, besieged by Russian forces, were evacuated to an area held by pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, their relatives reported this Sunday.

A total of 19 children and adolescents, aged between four and 17 years old, lived for about two weeks in the cold basement of the clinic, which specializes in the treatment of lung diseases, after Russian missiles fell near the premises.

The children lived in localities in the Donetsk region, not far from Mariupol (southeast), and had been sent to the clinic before the Russian offensive began on 24 February.

Olga Lopatkina, guardian of six of the children, had called for their evacuation to Europe, where she is now a refugee.

But on Sunday, one of them called her to tell her that they had been taken to Donetsk, the capital of one of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian rebel “republics”, she told AFP, explaining that the children had been placed in a hospital.

“Now I don't know how to get them back,” Lopatkina said, explaining that no adult had contacted her to inform her of the children's current whereabouts.

Alexei Voloshchuk, a relative of a sanatorium employee who took refuge there for a time before he was allowed to leave Mariupol, told AFP that Russian soldiers had prevented his evacuation to Zaporiyia, a city controlled by Ukrainian troops.

AFP was unable to contact the sanatorium because all communications were practically cut off in Mariupol.

Most of the children came from orphanages in the Donetsk region, but from the part that was not under the control of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic (DNR).

The Geneva-based charity Stop TB told AFP that it was concerned about the fate of children, and its director explained that she was “desperate” to remove them from war zones.

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