ITAR-TASSKIEV, June 10, 22:44 /ITAR-TASS/. Everyone willing to leave the zone of the armed ‘special operation’ in eastern Ukraine will have an opportunity to do so, the press service of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
“An opportunity will be given to leave the territory through to checkpoints of the antiterrorist center,” the report said. “Inspections in order to prevent the transportation of weaponry, explosives, etc., will be done at the checkpoints.”
The ministry also warns the people willing to leave the zone of the punitive operation that they will be subjected to identification procedures and each of them will be issued “an appropriate document.”
This document will ostensibly ensure access to “social benefits” like healthcare services, pensions and other financial allowances provided by the state, the right to enroll for educational institutions, and so on.
Experts working for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees will be involved in the protection of rights and freedoms of the Ukrainian citizens who leave the zone of conflict.
“Together with the activists of Ukrainian NGOs they will work outside of the territory of the operation and giving necessary assistance,” the Interior Ministry’s report said.
Afterwards the evacuees will be able “to go to any region of Ukraine where the local authorities can accommodate them.”
The report said almost all the regions have already made known their readiness to receive the people resettling from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which have evidenced the scenes of heavy fighting and attacks by pro-government forces on population centers.
The press service of the newly elected president, Pyotr Poroshenko, said earlier Tuesday he had issued an instruction “to set up a rescue corridor for the peaceful population willing to leave the territories where the armed operation is in progress.