Ukraine on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of seven villages in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, which used to be remote from the front lines but is now under threat as Russian forces close in.
Russia has been trying to break into the region from the neighboring Donetsk region but so far has not succeeded, even after more than three years of grinding battles.
The local military administration announced "the forced evacuation of frontline territories in the Synelnykove district."
"It covers three villages in the Novopavlivka community and four more villages in the Mezhivska community," it added.
Novopavlivka, which is now about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the front line, was home to 3,500 people before the war, but now has a population of about 100, including two children, the authorities said.
"There are currently no Russian occupation forces in the Dnipropetrovsk region," head of the local military administration Mykola Lukashuk said on Telegram, adding that the Ukrainian army was defending the region.
On Sunday, regional Governor Serhiy Lysak announced that one person had been killed by a Russian drone in Novopavlivka.
On Friday, the regional government ordered the evacuation of families with children from villages east of Mezhivska, also less than 10 kilometers from the current front line.
Ukraine regularly announces forced evacuations of the civilian population from areas close to the front line.
Russia has recently stepped up aerial bombardments on Ukraine as it advances along the front line and as the United States attempts to broker a ceasefire deal between the two sides.
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