"Russia will not let them in, we know this – and they are well aware of this too. They practice escape drills. For example, they are conducting exercises in Donetsk to evacuate command personnel by buses," ministry speaker for Anti-Terrorist Operation issues Andriy Lysenko said, Channel 5 reported.

In his words, routes are being developed to evacuate fighters' families.

Read alsoRussia, militants claim 69 Ukrainian hostages in captivity, not 132 as Kyiv insists – Humanitarian Envoy"The documentation and everything that can be used as evidence of this hybrid war is being removed. Routes are being or have already been developed to evacuate the families of the leaders of the so-called self-proclaimed republics and the Russians as well. The Russians will learn this first – they will be given a command. As soon as the Russians flee, Donetsk will be released without engaging the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Lysenko added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 13 times in the past 24 hours, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action.