“We’re not sure what’s going to happen now.” Donbas evacuees in Ukraine face uncertainty in southern Russia

(CNN) — Nikolai Fyodorovich is one of the few men allowed to cross the border into Russia from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine. His age – he is 59 years old – has freed him from the mobilization ordered by the separatist leaders on Friday and allows him to travel with the evacuees from Donbas.

Nikolai Fyodorovich, who declined to give his full name, crossed the border at the Avilo-Uspenka pass, some 60 miles from the capital of Donetsk, on Sunday.

He and his wife were taking their daughter-in-law and 4-year-old granddaughter to relatives in Rostov-on-Don, and had stopped for lunch at a cafe set up near the crossing by the Russian emergency services.

Evacuees from Donbas

Last Friday, the leaders of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, not recognized by the West, ordered mass evacuation of women, children and the elderly, and prohibited the departure of men between 18 and 55 years of age.

The evacuation announcements alarmed many in the West, who feared they would form part of a pretext for war with Ukraine.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of breakaway regions and ordering troops into them in what the Kremlin called a “peacekeeping” mission.

The move marked a sharp escalation in tensions between Russia and Ukraine, which have been rising for months.

Nikolai Fyodorovich said that he and his wife did not intend to stay in Russia and would instead return to their home in Donetsk on the same day.

“Everyone decides for himself whether he wants to leave or not, but we survived 2014,” he said, referring to the de facto war that broke out in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine eight years ago between separatists. backed by Russia and Ukrainian government forces.

Escalation of tensions in Donbas

More than 14,000 people they have been killed in fighting in Donbas since 2014. Ukraine says 1.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes, with most staying in areas that remain under Ukrainian control.

Nikolai Fyodorovich said his 33-year-old son had no choice but to stay behind amid the restrictions and mobilization order. “Many parents with children are staying in Donetsk,” he told CNN.

Russian-backed separatists have blamed Kiev for baseless military “provocations” and they say Ukraine is planning a major military offensive in the area, something Ukrainian officials have repeatedly denied.

Last week, Putin he claimedwithout evidence, that “what is happening in Donbas is genocide”, an assertion that was quickly denied by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Leaders of the breakaway regions announced plans to evacuate some 700,000 civilians, but it is unclear how many have reached southern Russia in recent days.

Local estimates vary, but the Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti, citing the FSB (Russian Security Service) border department for the Rostov region, said on Monday that more than 21,000 evacuees from Donbas had crossed checkpoints. control at the border with Russia in the last 24 hours.

Now that Russia has recognized Ukraine’s two self-proclaimed independent republics, it seems likely that they will return soon.

The pretext for his departure — the threat of a Ukrainian offensive — seems to have evaporated, even if it was largely imagined in the first place.

Evacuees interviewed by CNN at the Avilo-Uspenka border crossing on Sunday said they had voluntarily left the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

Those with nowhere to go can stay in the makeshift camp here: toilets, showers and two rows of inflatable tents inside which evacuees sleep in bunks waiting to be moved to other accommodation.

The Russian government has promised a stipend of 10,000 rubles ($130) for the new arrivals, but none of the evacuees CNN spoke with knew how to claim it.

Families crossing the border in Donbas

A CNN reporter on Sunday saw a convoy of military trucks full of army personnel heading for the Ukrainian border. In the other direction, cars with license plates of the self-proclaimed republic could be seen transporting evacuees from Donbas.

The flow of traffic — mostly buses and civilian cars — leaving Donetsk for Russia on Sunday morning was moderate. From time to time, small groups of evacuees — mostly families with young children — crossed the border on foot.

Tatiana Zygankova, 22, was there to greet the young newcomers with gifts of Alyonka chocolates, a nostalgic Soviet treat.

Zygankova is part of a pro-Putin youth movement, the All-Russian Popular Front. Its members, easily identifiable by their red caps, have been mobilized to help in the makeshift evacuation camp.

“We help people in crisis situations,” he said. She and other volunteers work 12-hour shifts, “greeting people, offering any help or assistance.”

Irina, 35, a kindergarten teacher from Donetsk, fled with her 5-year-old son Danil after hearing shelling in the middle of the night.

“It all happened spontaneously, we heard shelling noises around 1am, I took my baby and ran,” Irina told CNN near the border.

Irina, who did not want to give her last name for security reasons, said she had been taken to the checkpoint before crossing into Russia on foot with her son.

She said that her relatives had called some acquaintances in Rostov and asked them to take her and her son in for a while. “We’re waiting to be picked up by people we don’t know.”

Pointing to her son, who seemed more interested in Alyonka’s chocolate than the turmoil around him, Irina explained, “He wasn’t even born in 2014-2015, so he doesn’t get it. He’s heard of the war, but don’t know what it means.”

“I stayed in 2014, but I don’t want him to hear or see any of that,” he added.

Confusion and uncertainty among evacuees

Nearby, two young women — Sveta, 19, and Natalya, 20 — stood at the border crossing, suitcases packed, preparing to cross back into Donetsk, after staying in the makeshift camp for only a day.

“We decided we want to go back because there is nothing here for us and my house and parents are in Donetsk,” Sveta, who declined to give her full name, told CNN. They said they had stayed in Donetsk in 2014 and had gotten used to the shelling.

When a large group of evacuees — mostly women and children — arrived at the makeshift camp Sunday morning, volunteers gathered them in a circle to wait for a bus. They were to be taken to the port city of Taganrog to catch a train into Russia and away from their homes.

Leaders of several Russian regions have offered to take in those who choose to leave the breakaway republics as tensions rise.

Some of the evacuees plan to stay with friends or relatives in Russia, while others are loaded onto buses and taken to nearby summer camps and sanatoriums in the Rostov border region, which are being repurposed as temporary accommodation.

Some 84 kilometers from the Avilo-Uspenka border crossing, in the town of Krasniy Desnat, some evacuees were being accommodated in the Kotlostroitel sanatorium, its tall gates cordoned off by police to discourage unwanted visitors.

Olga, one of the Donetsk evacuees staying at Kotlostroitel, spoke to CNN outside the sanatorium.

“We settled in well, but there was a lot of confusion,” said Olga, 25, who declined to give her full name.

“Our leaders told us to evacuate and then the Russian authorities met us at the border,” he added. “We’re not sure what’s going to happen next and how long we’re going to be here.”