Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order on the evening of February 21 to recognize the "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic" in eastern Ukraine.
In April 2014, a large-scale armed conflict between Ukrainian government forces and local civilian armed forces broke out in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Civilian armed forces subsequently announced the establishment of the "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic".
Through the mediation of the international community, the two parties to the conflict reached a ceasefire agreement in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively. Since then, large-scale armed conflicts have been brought under control, but small-scale exchanges of fire have occurred from time to time.
On February 18, the eastern Ukrainian armed forces announced that they would evacuate local residents to Russia on a large scale from now on due to the danger of Ukraine launching a military operation.
The government of the southern Russian state of Rostov announced on the 19th that it has entered a state of emergency from today due to the continuous increase in the number of refugees from the eastern part of Ukraine.
(produced by Wu Rui)
Responsible editor: [Cheng Chunyu]