Since February 24, more than a million people have been evacuated from Ukraine to Russia, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who spoke early Saturday.
120,000 foreigners and civilians evacuated from Russian-backed breakaway regions of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s republics, which Russia recognized as independent just before commencing its assault, are included in the 1.02 million.
According to United Nations estimates, more than 5.4 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began. Moscow refers to the demilitarization and “denazification” of its neighbor as a “special operation.” Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of launching an unjustified aggressive campaign.
In comments to China’s official news agency, Lavrov said that 2.8 million people in Ukraine had requested to be evacuated to Russia, according to the Russian foreign ministry’s website.
Thousands of individuals have been deported to Russia, according to Ukraine.
Civilian evacuations from some front-line towns, including as the beleaguered southern port of Mariupol, have repeatedly failed, with one side blaming the other.
If the US and NATO are “really” engaged in settling the Ukrainian situation, Lavrov believes they should stop delivering arms to Kyiv.
“By publicly expressing support for the Kyiv administration, NATO countries are actively preventing the operation from being ended through political accords,” Lavrov stated.
