(Reuters) – Some 1.02 million people have been evacuated from Ukraine into Russia since Feb. 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks published early on Saturday.
That number includes 120,000 foreigners and people evacuated from Russian-backed breakaway regions of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s republics.
Lavrov, in comments to the Xinhua news agency and published on the Russian foreign ministry’s website, also reiterated that NATO’s vocal support of Ukraine stands in the way of reaching a political deal to end the conflict.
(Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Leslie Adler)
