(Reuters) – About 1.02 million people have been evacuated from Ukraine to Russia since February 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, remarks released early on Saturday showed.
This figure includes 120,000 foreigners and people evacuated from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, partly controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists.
In statements made to the Chinese news agency Xinhua and published on the website of the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergue Lavrov indicated that 2.8 million people had asked to be evacuated to Russia.
Ukraine said Moscow deported thousands of people to Russia.
Sergue Lavrov also declared that if NATO really wanted to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, it should stop supplying arms to Ukraine.
“By publicly expressing their support for the Kyiv regime, NATO countries are doing everything to prevent the end of the operation through political agreements,” he said.
(Report Lidia Kelly Melbourne; French version Camille Raynaud)