Greater than 1 million folks have been evacuated from Ukraine into Russia since February 24, Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov mentioned in an announcement printed early Saturday.
1.02 million folks together with 120,000 foreigners and residents evacuated from the Russian-backed separatist areas of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk Folks’s republics, which Russia acknowledged as unbiased instantly earlier than the invasion.
In keeping with United Nations figures, greater than 5.4 million folks have fled Ukraine because the begin of the invasion. Moscow referred to as it a “particular operation” geared toward demilitarizing and “demilitarizing” the neighboring nation. Ukraine and the West argue that Russia has waged a conflict of aggression with out trigger.
Lavrov, in feedback to China’s official Xinhua information company posted on the web site of the Russian Overseas Ministry, mentioned 2.8 million Ukrainians had requested to be evacuated to Russia.
Ukraine says Moscow has forcefully deported hundreds of individuals to Russia.
Efforts to evacuate civilians from a number of frontline areas, together with the besieged southern port of Mariupol, have been repeatedly blamed, one aspect blaming the opposite. Learn full story
Overseas Minister Lavrov mentioned that if the US and NATO have been “actually” desirous about fixing the Ukraine disaster, they need to cease sending weapons to Kyiv.
“By brazenly expressing help for the Kyiv regime, NATO international locations are doing all the things to stop the cessation of actions by means of political agreements,” Lavrov mentioned.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Modifying by Leslie Adler and William Mallard)
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