Refuge centers now home to 14000 fleeing Ukraine

ITAR-TASS/Andrei Kronberg

MOSCOW, June 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Refugees streaming from war-torn Ukraine and accommodated at temporary centers have swelled by almost 1,000 in number over the past 24 hours, Russian sources report.

More than 14,000 people are being sheltered, a representative of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.

Alexander Drobyshevsky reported that '211 temporary accommodations have been established to accommodate more than 14,200 people, including almost 6,500 children'.

'An 'emergency situation regime' has been imposed in 32 near-border municipalities of the [southern Russia] Rostov region, three municipalities of Stavropol region and in Sevastopol [Crimea],' he said.

Most of those fleeing had gone to Rostov region and Crimea, he said, adding that to lighten the burden on these regions, people were being moved by 'air ferries' at their wish to refugee centers in other regions.

More than 930 people have been airlifted on emergency ministry's aircraft, including 400 people over the 24 hours of June 23-24. Road transport has moved 570 people.

The ministry has delivered more than 250 tonnes of humanitarian cargo to receiving regions.