MOSCOW, July 23./ITAR-TASS/. Some 270 Ukrainian refugees have been sent to three Russian regions, Russian Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM) spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky said Wednesday.

“An (Ilyushin) Il-76 (NATO reporting name: Candid) aircraft with 103 Ukrainian nationals on board, mainly women and children, has left Simferopol (Crimean capital) for Samara. They will be taken by buses from the Samara Airport to temporary accommodation centers, where everything necessary has been prepared for them,” Drobyshevsky said.

The regions that the refugees are going to are the republic of Mordovia, the Samara Region in the Volga Federal District and the Volgograd Region in southern Russia.

Earlier, two buses with refugees headed from southern Russia’s Rostov Region to Mordovia and the Volgograd Region. A total of 123 people will be accommodated in the Volgograd Region and 39 in Mordovia.

Ukrainians continue fleeing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in southeastern Ukraine, where troops loyal to Kiev and local militias are involved in fierce clashes as the Ukrainian armed forces are conducting a military operation to regain control over the breakaway regions, which on May 11 proclaimed their independence at local referendums.

Russian Regional Development Minister Igor Slyunyayev said June 30 that the number of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Russia from the southeast of Ukraine may reach 300,000 by the end of this year.

During the military operation, conducted since mid-April, Kiev has used armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. According to Ukraine’s Health Ministry, 478 civilians have been killed and 1,392 wounded in it. Many buildings have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have had to flee Ukraine’s embattled Southeast.

Most Ukrainian nationals are in Crimea and the Rostov Region. From there, the refugees are taken to other Russian regions. As of Wednesday morning, 406 temporary accommodation centers hosting 26,617 people, including 10,144 children, have been deployed in Russian regions.