Ukraine war: Russian minister claims over 1 million evacuated to Russia
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday said more than one million people have been evacuated from Ukraine to Russia since February 24, news agency Reuters reported.
The figures include more than 1 lakh foreigners and people evacuated from Donetsk and Luhansk, which happen to be Russia-backed regions. These are the two areas recognised by Russia just days before it launched a full-scale invasion more than two months ago.
Lavrov, in comments to China’s official Xinhua news agency published on the Russian foreign ministry’s website, said 2.8 million people in Ukraine have asked to be evacuated into Russia.
Ukraine has said that Moscow has forcefully deported thousands of people to Russia.
Efforts to evacuate civilians from some front-line areas, including the besieged southern port of Mariupol, have repeatedly broken down, with each side blaming the other.
Lavrov said that if the United States and NATO are “truly” interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis, they should stop sending weapons to Kyiv.
“By publicly expressing support for the Kyiv regime, the NATO countries are doing everything to prevent ending of the operation through political agreements,” Lavrov said.
The fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces have entered the 66th day. According to a US official, the Russian offensive has slowed down because of a strong Ukrainian resistance.
“We also assess that because of this slow and uneven progress, again, without perfect knowledge of every aspect of the Russian plan, we do believe and assess that they are behind schedule in what they were trying to accomplish in the Donbas,” the official told news agency AP.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has also accused Moscow of trying to destroy Donbas and the people who live there. “The constant brutal bombardments, the constant Russian strikes on infrastructure and residential areas show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people. Therefore, the defense of our land, the defense of our people, is literally a fight for life,” AP quoted the president.