Acting Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan revealed Monday that around 61,000 citizens of the self-proclaimed people's republics of Luhansk and Donetsk (LPR, DPR) had crossed the border into Russia's Rostov Region as part of an evacuation amid the escalation in eastern Ukraine.

After a meeting of the emergency commission on the situation, Chupriyan told reporters that "the number of people arriving from two neighboring regions of Ukraine has increased to 61,000."

The first train bringing refugees from Donbass landed in Russia's Volgograd area on Sunday, and 443 people were transported to temporary shelters.

In a statement, authorities revealed that up to 443 persons are being delivered to temporary accommodation centers, including 166 children under 14 and nine newborns. 

Early Sunday, more than 40,000 refugees arrived in the Rostov region, south of Russia.

"More than 40,000 people who were forced to leave Ukraine arrived in Russia. Now they are placed in the Rostov region in temporary accommodations," Chupriyan told reporters.

Chupriyan said that each temporary accommodation point has been supplied with hot food and communication has also been set up.

Some of the most intensive shelling by Kyiv forces during the recent months took place on the morning of February 17, while the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) announced a general mobilization in the two republics.