LPR evacuates 2,000 people from Rubezhnoye

LPR authorities have evacuated at least two thousand people from Rubezhnoye, the LPR Ministry of Emergencies said.

"In the joint operation of the Ministry of Emergencies, Interior Ministry and People's Militia, more than 2,000 people have been evacuated to a safe zone," the report reads.

A tent camp outside Starobelsk and a city children's sports school are housing the refugees.

The Ministry of Emergencies is managing a list of people who want to relocate to Lugansk. The local administrations organized their transfer to the railways station, where the refugees board a Starobelsk-Lugansk train.

Temporary lodgings in Starobelsk and Lugansk are currently housing 373 people, 145 of them are minors.

Humanitarian assistance is delivered by the Ministry of Emergencies, Interior Ministry and People's Militia and its unit made up of Night Wolves moto club members.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Donbass to protect residents of the region from Ukrainian aggression and called on Ukrainian troops to leave the combat zone. Earlier, the Heads of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin, requested Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide military assistance. LPR militia had liberated 54 Kiev-held settlements of the Republic by March 6.

The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014.  The members of the Contact Group have announced ceasefire more than 20 times since the autumn of 2014. Kiev forces regularly violated the truce opening fire with large caliber artillery, mortars and tank guns which were to have been withdrawn from the contact line under the accords. *t