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Russia’s Rostov region on the brink of humanitarian disaster with Ukrainian refugees

ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 09, /ITAR-TASS/. Governor of the southern Rostov region Vasily Golubev is confident the situation with Ukrainian refugees in the region has reached the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

As he spoke to foreign and Russian reporters at a news conference on Wednesday, he said that the official figures on the numbers of refugees who had fled Ukraine and crossed the border over to his region “can be boldly multiplied by three.”

“At the moment the number of refugees fleeing from Ukraine to the Rostov region surpasses 25,000 people but real figures of refugees who are staying in the region are many more - about 75,000 people,” Golubev indicated.

“In more than one month’s time - from June 3 to July 8 - about 200,000 Ukrainians arrived in the Rostov region," he said, adding that the figures reflects the difference "between the number of people who arrived from Ukraine to Russia and who left Russia for Ukraine in the Rostov region.”

“Over 25,000 people, including 9,000 children, out of these are staying upon official authorisation in the region,” Golubev said specifying that most people who fled the area of the armed conflict in Ukraine are residing with their relatives or friends, who are permanent residents of the Rostov region.

“According to official data available for us, families of the Rostov region’s residents have hosted more than 21,000 people, including those who are not their relatives,” he said adding that about 1,000 forced migrants have been accommodated in four temporary shelters, and another 3,000 refugees reside in 45 temporary accommodation centres opened in dormitories and hotels.

“In fact, we are on the brink of humanitarian disaster,” the Rostov governor said.

The Rostov region received over 317 million roubles (9.33 million U.S. dollars), with 240 million roubles from the federal budget, 52 million roubles (1.53 million U.S. dollars) from the Red Cross and 25 million roubles (735,750 U.S. dollars) from the voluntary charity foundation Dobroye Delo (Good Deed), for refugees’ accommodation and resettlement to other districts of the Rostov region.