SIMFEROPOL, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Over 5,000 refugees, more than half of them children, have arrived in Crimea from Ukraine’s southeastern regions since the beginning of the crisis, according to Crimea’s acting Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov.
“ psychological help is being rendered. Six hundred people have already sought medical aid. As of today, Crimea has received over 5,000 Ukrainian refugees, including 2,800 children,” Aksyonov said at a session Wednesday.
The acting prime minster added that 39 temporary accommodation centers have been established in a number of Crimean cities, including Alushta, Yevpatoria and Yalta. Refugee camps have also been set up in the Bakhchysarai and Simferopol regions.
Amid violent clashes between independence supporters and government-backed forces conducting a military operation in eastern Ukraine, many local citizens have chosen to leave their homes and seek shelter in neighboring Russia.
According to Russia’s Federal Migration Service, more than 400,000 Ukrainians are currently staying in the Russian regions bordering Ukraine, with Russia’s Rostov Region receiving the bulk of the flow of refugees.
About 7,000 people have applied for temporary asylum and refugee status in Russia.
