LUGANSK, February 20. /TASS/. Nearly 34,000 people living in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) have crossed the Russian border since February 18, the LPR’s territorial defense headquarters said on Sunday.

"In a period from 19:00 on February 18 to 18:00 on February 20, as many as 33,815 people crossed the LPR’s border with Russia," LuganskInformCenter quoted it as saying.

According to the headquarters, a total of 61 evacuation centers are operating in the republic.

The situation along the contact line in eastern Ukraine took a turn for the worse in the morning of February 17. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics report the most massive shelling by the Ukrainian military over the past months. There have been no reports of deaths, but one civilian woman was wounded and the shelling damaged some civilian facilities.

Amid the mounting threat of combat actions, the self-proclaimed republics on Friday announced the evacuation of civilians to Russia. On Saturday, the Donbass republics announced general mobilization.

Forty-nine ceasefire violations by Ukrainian troops were reported in the LPR over the past day. Thirty-one violations were reported on February 18, and 29 - on February 17.