“Today we sent the first train from Rostov, sent 500 people to Voronezh, to a temporary accommodation center,” RIA Novosti quotes Chupriyan.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to pay refugees arriving from Donbass to the Rostov region 10,000 rubles each.
The head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, in an address to the residents of the DPR, said that due to the dangerous situation in the Donbass, the departure of the population to Russia has been organized since February 18.
The head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, called on the civilian population of the republic to leave for Russia as soon as possible amid the aggravation of the situation in the Donbass.
On February 19, the LPR territorial defense headquarters announced that 16,747 people had been evacuated to Russia.