OREANDA-NEWS A group of volunteers from Crimea came to Donbass to help local residents and protect their rights to self-determination. Andrey Kozenko, coordinator of the Russia—Donbass Integration Committee, told RIA Novosti about this.

The leaders of the group of volunteers were Kozenko himself and the ataman of the Black Sea Cossack army Anton Sirotkin. The coordinator of the committee stressed that he considers it his duty to support people who are fighting for rights and freedoms.

Earlier, the People's Militia of the DPR in its Telegram channel reported that volunteers from the interior regions of Ukraine, CIS countries and other European states come to the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in order to "defend the independence of Donbass."

On the weekend of February 19 and 20, due to the growing tension between the republics and Ukraine, the evacuation of residents from parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions not controlled by Kiev to the Rostov region began. Russia has started paying these refugees 10,000 rubles each.

According to the latest data, about 950,000 residents of Donbass have already applied to Russian migration centers with a desire to obtain Russian citizenship.

Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that Western partners should send a clear signal to Kiev about membership in the European Union. "We call on our partners to put aside any doubts and unreasonable warnings and clearly say: "Ukraine is part of us, we are a single whole," Kuleba was quoted by TASS as saying during a briefing. Kuleba called the country's membership in NATO and the European Union a matter of time.

US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said that this will require deep and comprehensive reforms of the entire Ukrainian system, economy, free and independent judicial proceedings and the fight against corruption.