The situation in Donbass is escalating, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced during a press conference after the Russian-Belarusian talks.
According to Putin, the authorities in Kiev should sit down at the negotiating table with the leaders of the two Donbas republics and agree on the necessary measures to resolve the conflict, “and the sooner the better.”
In the meantime The leader of the Luhansk People’s Republic, which seceded from Ukraine, Leonid Pasechnik, called on its residents to evacuate to Russia as soon as possible.
“In order to prevent casualties among the civilian population, I call on the residents of the republic, who do not have a call for mobilization and are not engaged in life-sustaining social and civic infrastructures, to leave for the Russian Federation as soon as possible,” he said.
Beekeeper said that Russia is ready to accommodate residents of the republic.
He called on “all men capable of bearing arms to come out and defend their land.”
Authorities in the Donetsk People’s Republic have also ordered a mass evacuation of the population to Russia due to the danger of military action by Ukraine, said the head of the republic Denis Pushilin, quoted by BGNES. He said Zelensky planned to launch an offensive in Donbass in the near future.
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will soon order the military to go on the offensive and carry out the plan to invade the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics,” Pushilin said in an emergency address to residents of the republic, published on his website.
“The shelling of DNR settlements on the Ukrainian side may endanger the lives and health of the citizens of the republic. Therefore, as of today, February 18, a mass centralized departure of the population to the Russian Federation has been organized. Women, children and the elderly must be evacuated in the first place, “Pushilin said.
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“All civilians must flee the rebel-held Donetsk region of Russia.”
Pushilin pointed out that he had reached an agreement with the Russian leadership for the accommodation of citizens of the republic in the Rostov region.
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“According to the agreement with the leadership of the Russian Federation, places for the reception and accommodation of our citizens have been prepared in the Rostov region. The evacuees will be provided with everything necessary. All conditions have been created for quick passage through the checkpoints.”
