The US defense secretary said it was clear that Russia had made a decision and was in a position to launch an attack

A total of 10,356 people crossed the border from the Donbas region in Ukraine into Russia as of 10:00 a.m. local time on Saturday, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported following the decision of the self-proclaimed Russian-backed republics. contradiction. organize an evacuation of civilians.

There is no way for CNN to independently verify the number.

RIA Novosti said 4,527 citizens of the Russian Federation, 5,806 citizens of Ukraine and 23 other foreigners had crossed the border, according to what it called “a source familiar with the situation.” Russian agencies are able to anonymously cite police and security officials, and CNN has not been able to independently verify those claims.

Earlier, on Saturday, Deputy Head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry Viktor Yatsutsenko said: “Seven regions of Russia are ready to receive refugees. They are Krasnodar Territory, Kursk regions, Voronezh, Belgorod, Oryol, Bryansk, Moscow”. to the Rostov region bordering Ukraine.

In total, these regions are ready to receive more than 28,900 people, RIA reported, he said.

Russian news agency TASS reported on Saturday that “all border checkpoints in the Rostov region have only the function of entry into Russia.”

According to TASS, an official from the FSB internal security service said: “All the checkpoints have been converted to indicate the entrance to the Russian Federation.

Evacuation orders were issued on Friday by the leaders of the republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, who declared them necessary because of an impending Ukrainian military offensive.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly rejected any such plans.