More than 40,000 refugees from Ukraine's self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) landed in the Rostov Russian area, according to Russia's temporary Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan.

He stated that at the temporary reception centers, the migrants were given hot meals and communication devices. He also claimed that around 2,000 Donbas refugees were transported by rail to Russia's Voronezh and Kursk areas, according to the TASS news agency.

The Ukrainian army initiated strikes on the settlements of Staromikhailovka, Petrovskoye, and Kommunarovka, according to DPR representatives at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the Ceasefire Regime.

According to the Donetsk People's Militia, as of 10:00 a.m. local time, Ukrainian government troops have launched more than 1,120 missiles, mines, and grenades against 32 places in the region.

According to reports, Ukraine's Interior Minister, Denis Monasturski, as well as members of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) and foreign media representatives, came under fire on Saturday and had to be evacuated to a safe location.

Later, CNN stated that its journalists and colleagues from the French news agency AFP were with the minister at the time of the incident.

The European Union, for its part, criticized the deployment of heavy weaponry and "indiscriminate" assaults in residential areas as "obvious violations of the Minsk accords and international humanitarian law."

In the wake of an increase in hostilities and a likely attack by Kyiv in the Donbas area, the Donetsk and Lugansk headquarters advised residents to flee to Russia on Friday.