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OSCE fixes growing flow of refugees crossing back into Ukraine from Russia

OSCE observers said the flow of people crossing the border in both directions has grown from 7,800 people last week to 9,400 this week

VIENNE, September 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The mission of observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said in a weekly report on Wednesday that a flow of refugees heading from Russia to Ukraine has grown this week.

OSCE observers said the flow of people crossing the border in both directions has grown from 7,800 people last week to 9,400 this week. Most of them were crossing into Ukraine. Polls suggest that many people are concerned about the coming winter and go to their destroyed homes in the embattled eastern Ukraine to get warm clothes.

Over the recent week, observers have heard just three explosions of artillery or mortar shells, a big difference from the previous week.

Observers have fixed 422 people in military uniforms without insignia on the border. Last week there were 149 such people. They say most of them were heading for Russia. Some were wounded and needed medical assistance.

The situation on the Donetsk and Gukovo border crossing checkpoints remains calm, the report said.

On September 5 the trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine (Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE) and representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics eached an agreement in Minsk on ceasefire in Ukraine’s embattled southeast, troops withdrawal, exchange of prisoners and provision of humanitarian aid.

More than 830,000 Ukrainian refugees were staying in Russia as of last Thursday, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

Clashes between troops loyal to Kiev and local militias in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics have killed hundreds of civilians, brought destruction and forced hundreds of thousands to flee the area.

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Ukraine crisis Ukraine OSCE Eastern Ukraine

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