More than 40,000 residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics have arrived in the Rostov region, Alexander Chupriyan, acting head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, said on Sunday.
“More than 40,000 people who were forced to leave Ukraine arrived on Russian territory. Now they are located in the Rostov region in the TAP,” Chupriyan told reporters (quoted by TASS).
The Ministry of Emergency Situations also reported that over 2,000 refugees were sent to the Voronezh and Kursk regions by train.
The night before, at a meeting of the working group chaired by Chupriyan, the first results of the work on the evacuation of citizens from the DPR and LPR to Russia were summed up. The authorities of the Rostov region have prepared almost 14,000 places for refugees, organized medical posts at all points, the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.
On February 19, in connection with the evacuation of citizens of the republics, a state of emergency was introduced in the Rostov region, later the Voronezh and Volgograd regions announced the introduction of a high alert regime.
The Rostov region received 5 billion rubles from the federal budget, the funds, by order of President Vladimir Putin, will be directed to assist those who arrived from the DPR and LPR.
Earlier, the heads of the DPR and LPR announced a mass evacuation of citizens, referring to Kiev’s plans for a military offensive against uncontrolled territories. On February 19, the Investigative Committee of Russia announced the initiation of a criminal case into the shelling of the territory of the Rostov region by paramilitary forces of Ukraine.