Police: Russia using civilians in Vovchansk as human shields
Russian forces had captured up to 40 civilians in the Ukrainian town of Vovchansk and are using them as human shields, the police said on May 17. Ukraine's Defense Ministry confirmed on May 15 that Russian units had entered the northern parts of the town, but the Ukrainian military reportedly prevented them from establishing a foothold deeper in Vovchansk. Serhii Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the police of the Kharkiv Oblast, said on air on Suspilne that up to 40 civilians, most of them elderly, had been taken captive when trying to escape Russian shelling. "People are ...