MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova dismissed Kiev’s statements about a forced evacuation of families with children from Alyoshki as inadmissible.
"I’d like to respond to statements from the Ukrainian side which insisted, citing Ukrainian laws, that families with children be driven from Alyoshki forcefully. As a human rights commissioner, I reject the word 'forcefully.' We are talking about people who are capable of making informed decisions themselves," she argued on the Max channel. According to the Russian ombudswoman, "everything should be done voluntarily, taking into account their interests, not the interests of authorities in Kiev who have suddenly become so concerned about locals there."
If the Ukrainian side wants people to make an informed decision, it should provide them with such an opportunity, allowing them to live a peaceful life and instructing its military to stop shelling the town and laying mines on local roads every day, Lantratova maintained.
Moreover, she continued, Alyoshki in the Kherson Region is Russian territory governed exclusively by Russian law, so any reference to Ukrainian laws is unacceptable.
"[Vladimir] Zelensky stated that the Russian side ‘must’ demine everything as part of this humanitarian mission. My response is: give a direct order to your military not to shell the town and not to place mines on roads leading to it," she concluded.
