Russia readies for war as Donbass evacuates population

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed Acting Minister of Emergency Situations Alexander Chupriyan to urgently fly to the Rostov region to arrange accommodation for refugees who arrive in the region from the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk and the People's Republic of Luhansk.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk plans to evacuate as many as 700,000 residents to the Rostov region. A message about this appeared in the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. First buses with people from Donetsk are already on their way to the border with Russia.

According to Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the president gave appropriate instructions to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations after the Governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, requested emergency assistance to the region through the federal center in connection with an unexpected influx of refugees from the Donbass.

Refugees will receive assistance with temporary housing, food and medicine.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations works to create conditions for accommodating refugees, provide them with hot meals and essential assistance, including medical aid.

In addition, President Putin instructed the federal government to urgently provide every refugee arriving in the Rostov region from Donbass with a payment in the amount of 10,000 rubles ($130), Peskov said.

The press service of the Russian Government later announced that the funds for this form of financial support would be allocated from Russia's Reserve Fund.

All children evacuated from the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk will receive support and assistance in Russia, Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova said, TASS reports.

For the time being, there is no information on the number of evacuees and their locations. All children and families with children arriving to Russia from the territory of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk will receive all necessary assistance, the Commissioner said.

Also read: Donbass orders immediate evacuation of residents