MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2022) Russia has accepted about 897,000 refugees from the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR) and Ukraine since the start of hostilities, a spokesperson for Russian emergency services told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"Over the past day, 18,490 people crossed the Russian state border, a total of 896,950 people since the conflict started," the spokesperson said.
He added that there are 166,680 children among the refugees.
A large-scale evacuation of the civilian population from the republics of Donbas began amid the backdrop of escalation in mid-February. Subsequently, Russia recognized the DPR and LPR's independence and launched a special military operation to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine on February 24.
