MOSCOW, July 14. /ITAR-TASS/. More than 30,000 Ukrainian citizens have asked for refugee status or temporary asylum in the Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS), FMS chief Konstantin Romodanovsky said at a meeting with Director of the Bureau for Europe of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Office Vincent Cochetel here on Monday.

“So far, 30,495 people asked for refugee status or temporary asylum,” Romodanovsky said. As many as 26,500 Ukrainians have applied for temporary refuge and about 4,000 people for the refugee status, he added.

The growing number of applications causes special concern, he said. About 490 Ukrainians, mostly residents of the southe-astern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk Regions, are staying in the border area and may also apply for the refugee status, Romodanovsky said.

Cochetel said his agency was ready to provide assistance, when the situation in Ukraine was settled and refugees started returning home.

Cochetel said most refugees would return when there was peace in Ukraine and it was necessary to prepare for this and that his agency was ready for cooperation with the FMS.