蜜芽传媒

Thousands of mainly women and children are being evacuated from the two Russian-backed breakaway areas in eastern Ukraine. Separatist leaders in the Donbass region say there's a threat of attack from Kiyv. Kiyv denies this but there have been attacks along the line dividing rebel and government forces and two Ukrainian soldiers were killed by shelling on Saturday. There are fears that Moscow is stoking tension in the area to provide a pretext for military intervention in Ukraine

Natalya Vasilyeva, Moscow correspondent for the UK's Telegraph newspaper, reports from Russia's Rostov region where evacuees are being sent. She says people are responding to evacuation orders from the authorities in the area, but as these are not controlled by Ukraine, there is no sense of the numbers involved, and nobody has mentioned people are being forced to move. She has heard people say that arrangements for them has been "shambolic", that makeshift camps for the evacuees holding points have been constructed, and that they will be taken to guest houses, hotels, disused hospitals. As yet, there are no details of how long people will be evacuated for.

"A lot of people are spooked by a recent uptick in fighting and by evacuation orders from the separatist authorities."

Photo: Residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic at the Russia-Ukraine border Credit: EPA

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