Currently, 80% of the buildings in Bakhmut, Donetsk Region, have been destroyed or damaged, but up to 4,000 civilians, including 38 children, remain in the city, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk has said on the air of the telethon.
"As of today, fewer than 4,000 people remain in Bakhmut. As for children, about 38 children, as far as we know, remain in Bakhmut today," she said.
According to Vereshchuk, 80% of the buildings in the city have been destroyed or damaged by Russian shelling.
The battle for Bakhmut has been going on since July 2022. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the Russian army continues to try to surround and capture Bakhmut, but in vain. The Russians sent trained units of the Wagner PMC and other regular units of the Russian army to capture the city.
Before the hostilities, Bakhmut was home to more than 70,000 people, including about 12,000 children.