Russia’s Emergencies Minister says authorities have evacuated more than 60,000 civilians from separatist-held areas in eastern Ukraine to Russia.
Alexander Choprian added that regarding 61,000 people crossed the border into Russia, saying that nine trains loaded with evacuees were sent to other parts of Russia.
Choprian was speaking from Russia’s Rostov region bordering Ukraine, where President Vladimir Putin has sent him to set up a series of refugee camps.
Separatist leaders in the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk republics announced plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people to Russia, with reports of combat-age men mobilized in the two regions.
Russian news agencies reported that Denis Pushlin, president of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, met the departing residents on Friday.
“I hope this situation will not last for long, but safety is of paramount importance,” he was quoted by Archyde.com news agency as saying.
The United States has described the evacuations as a gambit to distract from the looming Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Satellite image showing “troop mobilization in Russia”
Putting Russian forces on the ground
Despite more diplomacy this morning, Russian forces remain stationed in positions encircling Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin took part in the largest military deployment in generations, with Moscow’s forces stationed along the western border with Ukraine, as well as in Crimea, and in Belarus.
US officials told the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe last week that Moscow had deployed up to 190,000 troops “in and near Ukraine”.
CBS News reported that the US has intelligence that Russian leaders on the ground have been ordered to proceed with the invasion and are now making specific combat plans on how to attack.
A report said the invasion would begin with a cyber attack, followed by a missile campaign and air strikes, before ground units attempted to capture the capital, Kiev.
Officials in Belarus, a close ally of Russia whose border lies regarding 140 miles from Kiev, announced that Russian forces would not leave the country at the conclusion of the military exercises, as they had initially promised.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told CNN Sunday that “everything we’re seeing indicates that this is a very serious matter,” and that we are “on the verge of an invasion.”
Blinken had warned that the extension of Russian military exercises in Belarus had heightened his concern regarding an “imminent” invasion of Ukraine.
The US Secretary of State said that Moscow’s decision to maintain regarding 30,000 troops in Belarus, which borders Ukraine, amid escalating tension in eastern Ukraine, suggests this.
But Ukraine said talk of an imminent Russian invasion was “inappropriate”.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov said an attack “tomorrow or the day following tomorrow” was unlikely because no Russian “offensive groups” had yet been formed near the border.
Russia denied it was planning to invade its neighbour. A statement from Belarus blamed a “deteriorating situation” in eastern Ukraine as one of the reasons for extending the military exercises, which were due to end on Sunday.
France announced that US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “have agreed in principle” to hold a summit on the Ukraine crisis.
The office of French President Emmanuel Macron indicated that this meeting might take place “if Russia does not invade Ukraine.”
A White House spokeswoman said US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, this week to discuss the proposed summit.
The BBC’s diplomatic correspondent James Landall says the upcoming Biden-Putin summit, for which there is still no agreement on when, how and where it should take place, might in theory be the way to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
In the long term, he added, the summit might lead to a greater agreement on European security.
But he indicated that events on the ground in Ukraine may escalate out of control during the current period, and any side can withdraw.
The end result – according to what the correspondent says – is that the diplomatic track for the time being is still open.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the situation in eastern Ukraine remained “tense”, but there was still room for talks.
“There is an understanding that dialogue should continue at the level of foreign ministers,” Peskov said.
“The Russian and American presidents, if necessary, of course, can decide to make a phone call or communicate through other means,” he added.
A Ukrainian reserve soldier during a military exercise on Saturday
“Assassination Lists”
On Monday, Peskov denied US intelligence reports that Russia had a list of Ukrainians it would capture or kill following the invasion, calling the reports an “absolute lie”.
Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva had written a letter to the UN human rights coordinator, Michelle Bachelet, in which he said that Russian forces are preparing lists of Ukrainians “who should be killed or sent to camps following the military occupation.”
The US Embassy in Moscow has warned Americans of possible attacks in public places in Russia, saying that evacuation plans should be in place for them.
Peskov described the warning as “extremely unusual”.
“persistent need”
The European Union expressed its full support for efforts to arrange talks between Russia and the United States. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters that “the summits, whether at the level of leaders or at the level of ministers, regardless of the format, and whatever way the talks are conducted, Avoiding war is an urgent need.” Borrell added, “We will support anything that would make diplomatic talks the best way, but rather the only way to find a solution to the crisis.”
the situation “Very dangerous“
An unnamed intelligence official told CNN that nearly 75 percent of Russian conventional forces are on alert on the Ukrainian border. The source said that the concentration of Russian forces so close to Ukraine is very unusual.
The US company Maxar released new satellite images, which it said show multiple new field deployments of armored equipment and forces from Russian garrisons near the border with Ukraine, indicating increased military readiness.
