MOSCOW, July 3. /ITAR-TASS/. A total of 65,000 refugees from Ukraine’s embattled southeast, including 20,000 children, are staying in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said on Thursday.

“Some refugees have applied for Russian citizenship and some have the status of persons temporarily staying in Russia. We suspect that these people will have to stay in Russia for long,” Golodets told a phone-call government conference on refugees.

The vice-premier who oversees social issues in the Russian government said that a half of the 20,000 Ukrainian children were of school age.

“As for children, we need to provide normal conditions for them to join the educational process. We have selected organizations for students and school-leavers, including institutions in central districts and the city of Moscow where special conditions will be created for their enrollment at higher educational institutions,” Golodets said.

“Children should begin their educational year in maximally comfortable conditions,” the vice-premier said.

Hundreds of people have been killed, buildings have been destroyed and tens of thousands have been forced to cross the border from Ukraine to Russia since April as a result of Kiev’s military operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine’s southeast involving armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation.