SIMFEROPOL. Jan 17 (Interfax) - The majority of residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) who left Donbas in 2014, have returned to their regions, DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko and LPR head Igor Plotnitsky said.
"In 2014, there were 220,000-230,000 people in Donetsk in the heat of hostilities. Presently, nearly one million people live in Donetsk," Zakharchenko said at a press conference in Simferopol on Tuesday.
Over 90% of residents who fled the region during active hostilities, came back to the LPR, Plotnitsky said.
"As of now, 92%-93% of our refugees have returned. Only those who do not want to return or have other convictions have stayed [outside the LPR]," Plotnitsky said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Emergency Situations State Service's press service reported about over one million temporarily displaced people from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea in November 2016.
In turn, the Russian Federal Migration Service said at the beginning of 2016 that about two million Ukrainian residents have come to Russia since the start of the conflict in Donbas.