ROSTOV-ON-DON, June 17. /ITAR-TASS/. At least 1,600 refugees from Ukraine’s south-eastern regions have crossed the border to the Rostov Region in southern Russia over the past 24 hours.

The index is four times as much as the average daily figure of recent weeks, with 400 refugees staying in Russia daily, a spokesman for the Rostov Region’s government, Sergei Tyurin, said on Tuesday.

The Rostov Region currently accommodates 6,883 Ukrainians, including 2,653 children, who fled the conflict-gripped areas in eastern Ukraine where Kiev is conducting a punitive operation against federalization supporters, Tyurin told Itar-Tass.

Temporary shelters accommodated 1,269 people, the regional holiday centres and educational establishments provided housing for 1,664 Ukrainians and 3,950 were housed at their relatives’ or volunteers’.

“Earlier, we calculated that the Rostov Region can provide shelter to 4,000 refugees,” the spokesman said. “But now we have drastically exceeded the figure nearly doubling it.”

“Governor Vasily Golubev has set the task to prepare additional temporary shelters at tourist bases, children’s camps and health centres. We are improving the resource and are looking forward to accommodating more refugees,” he said.

To help Ukrainians, 1,674 people and 576 vehicles were involved in the effort to provide assistance to and accommodate refugees in the region and 11 million roubles (316,000 U.S. dollars) were raised by the Dobroye Delo (Good Deed) regional foundation, Tyurin said.

According to the Rostov regional government, 133,000 Ukrainians entered Russia in the past month and 77,000 people stayed in the Russian territory.