Kiev

- The developments of the war raging in the Donetsk region of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and its repercussions - apparently - forced the authorities in Kiev to announce a "forced evacuation" of the residents of the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said - last Saturday - that his government has ordered the mandatory evacuation of residents in the Donetsk region, and that hundreds of thousands of people who are still in the fighting areas of the greater Donbass region - which includes Donetsk in addition to the neighboring Lugansk region - must leave.

There are about 200 to 220 thousand people here, including 53,000 children, according to Irina Vereshuk, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of integration and occupied territories.

The declared reason, according to the authorities, is "the inability to provide any of the population's basic needs with the advent of the coming winter, such as heating gas and electricity."

This reason may be very logical, especially since the last few days have seen the Russians take control of the Volherska power plant, which was considered one of the largest in Ukraine.

Security reasons

But no less important security reasons stand behind Kyiv's declaration and calls. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describes the situation there as "real hell".

According to many, the region is set for an unprecedented escalation and a fate similar to the fate of cities that have become ruins.

"The situation for the Russians will not be easy in Donetsk, regardless of the fact that they encircle about 50% of its territory under the control of Ukraine," said military analyst Vladislav Vitko - to Al Jazeera Net.

"The facts of the war have changed, and Ukraine is inflicting painful blows on the Russians on various fronts, targeting command centers, ammunition depots and gathering sites of forces, so we find that they are advancing very slowly. In practice, over the past weeks that followed their control of the Lugansk region, they made little progress in Donetsk." ".

A school in the city of Mykolaiv was subjected to Russian bombing (Reuters)

"Lugansk was easier for them, because only 20% of its territory was under Ukrainian control. However, they resorted to a scorched-earth policy in the city of Severodonetsk, fearing that they would repeat the same scenario in Donetsk residential communities to advance," he added.

He also pointed out in this regard that "the failure of the Russians to control Mariupol prompted them to crush it with bombing after several weeks of fighting, although - in practice - they were fighting one battalion in it (Azov); but the situation in the rest of Donetsk is different, and the reality says that most of the forces of Ukraine Those prepared for war have been there since 2014."

The expert expected that Donetsk would soon witness fierce battles under the cover of artillery bombardment in which Russia would excel, saying, "Russia will not hesitate to crush the intractable cities (Bakhmut, Kramatorsk, Slaviansk, Avdiivka and others), and most of the victims then will be civilians, so you should avoid waiting any longer." .

Pro-Russian forces in Donetsk monitor and clear mines in the area (Reuters)

For and against

On the popular level, the reactions of the displaced population from those areas and those remaining in them vary between supporters and opponents of the idea of ​​evacuation, for different reasons.

In Kyiv, where the number of displaced people from the eastern regions exceeded the barrier of 100,000 people at the end of July, Al Jazeera Net spoke to the taxi driver Oleksiy, who was displaced months ago from the city of Kramatorsk. A suicide project. Everyone expects Donetsk to turn into a cauldron."

"I went out with my wife and children, but my father refused, insisting on staying in his house outside the city. This is the case for many elderly people there," he added.

In the same context, Irina Tereshchenko, an activist in the volunteer relief group "Wings of Goodness" in the eastern regions, says - in a phone call to Al Jazeera Net - "The elderly make up about 50% of the rest. We try to persuade them to leave regardless of the destination, but they often refuse."

She pointed out that "some of them do not care who will rule their areas in the end, and many of them say that dying in homes is easier than leaving them, and that they become displaced or refugees in other regions and countries."