ROSTOV-ON-DON. Feb 22 (Interfax) - Ryazan, Belgorod, Penza and Lipetsk received the first trains carrying Donbas refugees from the Rostov region on Tuesday, Rostov deputy minister of regional policy and mass communications Sergei Tyurin said.
"The geography of destinations reached by trains departing from the region has been broadening. More than 14 trains carrying over 11,000 people have departed to date," Tyurin said.
The trains were headed to the Kursk, Voronezh, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Moscow and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as to Penza, Lipetsk, Belgorod and Ryazan, he said.
Almost 6,000 refugees are staying in 125 shelters in the Rostov region, Tyurin said. In his words, 7,000 tests for Covid-19 have been conducted, and only 30 of them have come back positive.
About 90,000 Donbas refugees crossed the Russian border as of Tuesday morning.
Back on February 18, the authorities of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics announced evacuations to Russia, as the armed conflict began to escalate. Women, children and senior citizens are evacuated ahead of anyone else. The DPR Emergency Situations Ministry alone is planning to evacuate up to 700,000 people.
The Rostov region was the first to take in refugees. It has received 5 billion rubles so it can pay out a 10,000-ruble benefit to every Donbas refugee. The Rostov region is preparing up to 20,000 beds in health resorts and children's camps for the refugees. There are about 300 temporary lodgings set up in the region which are providing food and medical services to the refugees.