Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register April 30 (Reuters) – More than 1 million people have been evacuated from Ukraine to Russia since February 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement released early Saturday. The 1.02 million include 120,000 foreigners and people evacuated from Russian-backed breakaway regions of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, which Russia recognized as independent shortly before the invasion began. According to the United Nations, more than 5.4 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began. Moscow calls it a “special operation” to demilitarize and “denationalize” its neighbor. Ukraine and the West say Russia has launched an unprovoked offensive war. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Lavrov, commenting on the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website, said that 2.8 million people in Ukraine had asked to be evacuated to Russia. Ukraine says Moscow has forcibly deported thousands of people to Russia. Efforts to evacuate civilians from some frontline areas, including the besieged southern port of Mariupol, have repeatedly collapsed, with each side blaming the other. read more Lavrov said that if the United States and NATO were “really” interested in resolving the Ukraine crisis, they would have to stop sending weapons to Kyiv. “By publicly expressing support for the Kiev regime, NATO countries are doing everything possible to prevent the operation from being terminated through political agreements,” Lavrov said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne. Editing by Leslie Adler and William Mallard Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
