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Thousands of Ukrainians are being moved miles away from their homes and into remote regions of Russia, Kremlin documents claim.
Refugees, said to be interrogated for hours and moved out in buses, are allegedly being sent to Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan and as far as Sakhalin – the largest island in Russia located north of Japan in the Pacific Ocean.
According to the decree, none are being sent to Russia’s biggest cities Moscow and St Petersburg but it is suggested some may go to Magadan – along Russia’s far east – and Murmansk, in the far northwest of the country.
Refugees from Ukraine wait for the bus after they crossed the Ukrainian-Polish border at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland last week
A Ukrainian soldier pictured yesterday at a Ukrainian frontline in Donbas, Ukraine as the conflict continues
The Kremlin last month made an emergency order, seen by the i, to move 95,739 people into remote regions in the country, saying that the Government ‘approves the distribution’ of citizens of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk, and stateless individuals to the ‘constituent entities of the Russian Federation’.
The decree was said to include provisions to send 11,398 people to Siberia, 7,218 to the Far East and 7,023 to the North Caucasus, with regions reportedly told to update Moscow on arrivals monthly.
It comes as Russia has ‘unleashed chemical weapons on Mariupol’ with Ukrainian troops claiming they were hit by an agent dropped by a drone leaving them unable to breath and dizzy – as the besieged city’s mayor reveals more than 10,000 civilians in the conflict have died so far.
The unidentified agent is said to have been dropped on the southern port city from a Russian drone, according to unverified reports from the city’s Azov regiment.
Details of the assault, via the Telegram messaging app, say a ‘poisonous substance of unknown origin’ has led to the city’s defenders suffering from symptoms including breathing issues, ‘respiratory failure’ and ‘vestibulo-atactic syndrome’.
The alleged attack came just hours after a pro-Russian general in Donbas appeared to promote the idea of using chemical weapons, telling state media it would ‘smoke the Ukrainian moles out of the underground’.
A picture released by the Azov Regiment claiming to show troops destroying Russian tanks and vehicles in Mariupol
Emergency workers remove debris of a building destroyed in the course of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, in the southern port city of Mariupol on Sunday
Service members of pro-Russian troops drive an armoured vehicle during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol yesterday
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Parliament tweeted to say it has received reports of Russian forces firing ‘nitric acid’ in the Donetsk region. It is not clear if the incidents are linked.
It warned local residents to wear ‘protective face masks soaked in soda solution’.
It follows a warning from the Ministry of Defence yesterday suggesting that Russia could turn to the use of a deadly phosphorus bombs amid attempts to finally break heroic resistance in Mariupol.
While strictly not considered a chemical weapon, the substance burns fiercely and can cause horrendous injuries, and its use on civilians constitutes a war crime.
People trying to flee the besieged Mariupol are also allegedly being given papers to sign which claim Ukrainian troops shelled the besieged city, the i reports.
According to the outlet, the paper alleges the person signing is a victim of Ukraine violating the Geneva convention.
Reports say that refugees, some of whom are allegedly interrogated by the Kremlin’s troops for hours, are then sent to Russia as there is nowhere else to go from Mariupol.
An armoured vehicle of pro-Russian troops is seen in the street during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine yesterday
People queue to cross the border on their way back to Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland on April 8
The scramble to leave Ukraine – where 10 million people have been displaced since Putin’s invasion – comes following Russia’s invasion on February 24.
Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council, said: ‘While the rest of Europe, including Ireland, has stepped up to take significant numbers of refugees from Ukraine, our response in the UK has been painfully slow.’
Just 1,200 refugees have arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, a tenth of the visas granted. Home Secretary Priti Patel has apologised for delays.
EU countries have waived the visa requirements. Some 20,525 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland while the German government last week said it had accepted 300,000.
Poland has welcomed 2.5 million refugees in the last six weeks.
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