Evacuations have been ramped up as shelling in the Russian-backed separatist enclaves of Luhansk and Donetsk has escalated in recent days.
More than 60,000 residents of the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk regions have fled to eastern Russia as tensions mount over a possible Moscow-led invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials said on Monday.
Alexander Chupriyan, the acting head of the Russian Federation's Ministry of Emergency Situations, told reporters that more than 61,000 residents of the Donetsk People's Republic and its fellow breakaway Ukrainian enclave, the Luhansk People's Republic, have arrived so far in Russia's Rostov Oblast region, according to the Interfax news agency.
Denis Pushilin, the head of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic, which is being backed by Russia in its war with Kyiv,to the Rostov region, saying women, children and the elderly would be prioritized.