The first refugees from Donbass have already arrived at the Zvezda camp in the Rostov region, up to 400 people are expected in total. This was announced on Saturday, February 19, by a representative of the camp.
“Up to 400 people [ожидаем] – women and children. Everything is ready for their placement, the placement is already underway. Two buses have already arrived, a little over 50 people,” she said.
Earlier on Friday, the first buses with residents of Donbass began to arrive in the Rostov region.
In addition, Acting Head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations Alexander Chupriyan, together with the task force of the Central Office of the department, flew to Rostov-on-Don on behalf of President Vladimir Putin to organize the reception of people arriving from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR).
Also on Friday, at a meeting of the government of the Rostov region on the prevention and elimination of emergency situations, it was decided to introduce a high alert mode in the region from February 18 against the backdrop of the arrival of refugees from the DPR.
It is clarified that temporary accommodation centers (TAPs) have been created on the basis of existing health camps, sanatoriums, and recreation centers for the placement of citizens of Donbass, where it is planned to deploy 3,274 places. Accommodation facilities provide food and medical care.
In addition, in the coming hours, the number of places for refugees is planned to be increased to 10 thousand, a further increase in the number of accommodation places will depend on the development of the situation.
The emergency services of the region noted that the capacity of TACs in the region for evacuated residents of Donbass exceeds 700 thousand people. At the same time, it is planned to accommodate the arriving refugees in eight districts and one urban district of the region.
On the same day, it became known that in the city of Krasny Luch, controlled by the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), the evacuation of residents to Russia began. At the same time, the Ministry of State Security of the self-proclaimed LPR on February 18 stated that the information that only people with Russian passports can cross the border between the LPR and the Russian Federation is not true.
The authorities of the Kaluga, Chelyabinsk, Murmansk, Kirov regions, as well as Mari El, also said they were ready to accept refugees from the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR).
In turn, the Tula region will send food and essential goods to the Rostov region, where refugees from Donbass will arrive.
On February 18, the heads of the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR, Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin, announced that the authorities had begun evacuating residents of the people’s republics to Russia in connection with the shelling of Donbass by Ukrainian security forces. Pushilin also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would soon order the military to go on the offensive in order to implement the plan to invade the territory of Donbass.
The situation on the line of contact in Donbass escalated on February 17. The DPR and LPR reported heavy shelling by Ukrainian security forces, including with heavy weapons.
Since 2014, the Kiev authorities have been conducting a military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kiev blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the intra-Ukrainian conflict. The issues of its settlement are being discussed in the Minsk and Normandy formats.