Police detain URCS driver during evacuation of critically ill patients from Kherson region, send him for medical examination
On the morning of August 14, police in Mykolaiv region detained a volunteer driver from Kherson Emergency Response Unit of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS), who was in the process of evacuating people from a dangerous area in Kherson – specifically, an elderly woman, a cancer patient, and a three-year-old child, according to a post on the unit's Facebook page.
It is noted that police stopped the vehicle and initially intended to take the driver in for testing due to suspicion of possible alcohol or drug use. However, according to unit commander Mykola Taranenko, the driver was eventually taken to the TCR assembly center in Mykolaiv, where he had already undergone a medical examination.
Following this, Taranenko announced the suspension of evacuations from Kherson: of the four drivers in the unit, only three remained, and the evacuation of people was delayed by more than four hours due to this situation.
"Evacuation from Kherson disrupted: near the village of Shevchenkove in Mykolaiv region, a police officer from Bashtanka District Police Department detained a driver from Kherson Regional Emergency Response Unit of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. The evacuation of civilians from the "red zone" of Kherson, which is under constant shelling, was jeopardized due to the treacherous actions and deception on the part of law enforcement officers," the unit said in the statement on Friday.
It is noted that the people in the vehicle who were being evacuated were "simply abandoned."
Unit commander Taranenko said that, in light of the situation, he "officially appealed to the chief of Bashtanka District Police Station regarding the unlawful actions of his subordinate, as well as to the representative of the Ukrainian Parliament's Commissioner for Human Rights in Mykolaiv region."
"Many of you know me – I am the commander of Kherson Regional Emergency Response Unit of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. In 2025, we evacuated 958 people with limited mobility to safer regions of Ukraine. Now there will be fewer of them. Far fewer. I am suspending evacuations from the city of Kherson," Taranenko said.
"I demand an explanation from the National Police of Ukraine regarding the actions of your subordinates. I offer my apologies to all residents of the city – please forgive us for not being able to evacuate everyone who wanted to survive. Please forgive us," Taranenko said on the unit's Facebook page.