MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. More than 25,000 people, including more than 14,000 children, were evacuated from dangerous regions in Ukraine, and from the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics to Russia during the day, Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said on Tuesday.
"Despite the difficulties and obstacles created by the Kiev regime, during the day, as many as 25,501 people, including 14,242 children, were evacuated from dangerous zones in various Ukrainian regions, and from the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics to Russia without participation of the Ukrainian side," he said. "Since the beginning of the special military operation, as many as 3,420,866, including 555,902 children, have been evacuated."
According to Mizintsev, who also heads the Russian Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine, 5,262 private cars crossed the Russian border in the past day and 574,387 since the beginning of the operation.
He also said that nearly 30 evacuation requests came during the day from people in Ukraine who want to be evacuated to Russia, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics or to Russia-controlled territories in Ukraine. "During the day, the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine, federal executive bodies, Russian regions and various public organizations received 27 requests for the evacuation to Russia, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic, and to Russia-controlled territories in the Zaporozhye, Nikolayev, Kharkov, and Kherson regions," he said, adding that the database has 2,760,255 such requests from 2,139 settlements in Ukraine and Kiev-controlled territories in Donbass.