VORONEZH, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - Belgorod Region, located to the north of Ukraine, is currently receiving between 8,000 and 10,000 Ukrainian refugees every day, with up to 3,000 of them staying in the region, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s regional department said Thursday.
”In June, the flow of Ukrainian citizens into the region increased amid the escalation of the situation in the neighboring state,” a ministry statement read.
The total length of Belgorod Region’s borders is about 1,150 kilometers, of which 540 kilometers is shared with Ukraine’s Luhansk, Kharkiv and Sumy regions. Since February 2014, over 50,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived in the region.
As of Thursday, a total of 1,863 Ukrainians had applied for refugee status in Russia. The displaced Ukrainians have been accommodated at 48 temporary settlement facilities and provided with water, food and first aid as well as transportation services.
Amid violent clashes between independence supporters and government-backed forces conducting a military operation in eastern Ukraine, many local citizens have chosen to leave their homes and seek shelter in neighboring Russia.
According to Russia’s Federal Migration Service, more than 400,000 Ukrainians are currently staying in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine, with Russia’s Rostov Region receiving the bulk of the flow of refugees.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the government Wednesday to develop urgent measures to support Russian regions that have seen an inflow of refugees from violence-hit Ukraine.
