MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. More than 120,000 evacuated residents of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have already crossed the border into Russia, with more than half of them children, Secretary of the General Council of the United Russia party Andrey Turchak announced.
"The day before yesterday we returned from Rostov-on-Don. The region now bears the main burden of receiving and accommodating refugees. To date, more than 120,000 people have already crossed the border," Turchak said at a meeting with the party’s regional branches on assistance to evacuees from Donbass.
More than half of the120,000 refugees from the republics are children.
"Literally, the whole Russia has joined in to help. Temporary accommodation facilities for receiving refugees have been set up in 15 regions. Colleagues, I would like to say a special thank you to everyone for the work that you are currently doing with your operational headquarters," he said.
On February 18, the heads of the LPR and DPR, Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin, announced the evacuation of republics’ residents to the territory of Russia, in particular to the Rostov Region, due to the growing threat of hostilities. Later, a number of other regions of Russia received people from Donbass.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the recognition of the sovereignty of the DPR and the LPR. Agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance were signed with their leaders.