“Thousands” of people fled the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, the scene of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, towards Russia in 24 hours, the governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, said on Sunday.
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“It wasn’t the easiest night, it wasn’t the easiest morning. Over the past 24 hours, thousands of people have crossed the border,” Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a video address, posted on his Telegram channel.
At the beginning of the month, the Ukrainian army first announced a counter-offensive in the south, before carrying out during the past week a surprise and flash breakthrough of the Russian lines in the North-East, in the Kharkiv region. .
Since Saturday, the Kyiv regime has reported significant territorial gains against the Russian army in the east, where it has announced that it will withdraw its troops from certain sectors to “reinforce” the pro-Russian separatist region of Donetsk further south.
Most of the people who crossed the border in the Belgorod region went to stay with their relatives residing in Russia, according to Mr. Gladkov.
“Today, 1,342 people are in 27 temporary accommodation places set up in the region,” he said.
“In total, the situation is under control,” assured Mr. Gladkov, assuring that Sunday afternoon, there were no longer long queues at the border, unlike the previous night.