MELITOPOL, May 11. /TASS/. About 12,000 residents of the Zaporozhye Region have been relocated deeper into the region from areas that keep coming under Ukrainian fire, First Deputy Governor Sergey Tolmachev told reporters on Thursday.

"About 4,000 people have arrived in the city of Berdyansk. They traveled by bus in organized groups. First of all, these are children with their parents or guardians, elderly people and hospital patients. The total number stands at 12,000, including the 4,000 people who arrived in Berdyansk and the 8,000 people who traveled on their own," Tolmachev said during a visit to the city of Pologi located near the line of contact.

According to him, the authorities are ready to take the region’s residents to Crimea and the Rostov Region in case fighting intensifies along the line of contact, but there is no need for that at the moment. "Everything is ready for this, both in terms of transport and talks with host parties," Tolmachev added.

"We are currently using only accommodation centers in Berdyansk, reserving facilities in Primorsk, Kirillovka and Melitopol. We are prepared to accommodate up to 20,000 people in Berdyansk," the official said, adding: "Buses have been booked. We have the necessary number of buses to relocate 8,000 to 9,000 people from the northern territories every day rather than relocate 4,000 in four days," the deputy governor noted.

The Zaporozhye Region’s Acting Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on May 5 that residents of 18 towns and villages would be temporarily relocated deeper into the region due to intensified shelling by Ukrainian troops. The region’s Deputy Prime Minister on economic issues Andrey Kozenko told TASS that about 70,000 people are expected to be relocated.