Moscow’s forces transported about 11,500 people to Russian territories on Monday without the intervention of Ukrainian authorities, Kremlin said in a statement. Nearly 1,900 of these were children.

The evacuation statistics put out by Russia also include individuals from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, which were recognised as “independent republics” by Moscow before the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. No details were provided on the location or circumstances of the moves.

Also Read: Red van against Russia: How one Ukrainian drove 200 people to safety

While Ukraine has also recognised the “evacuations” made by Russian forces, allegations of forceful deportation have been tied with it. Russia has said that all of these evacuations have been at the request of the people, according to reports from Reuters.

The new update from Russia bumps up its evacuation claims to 1.1 million individuals since Moscow commenced its “special operation in Ukraine.” According to media reports citing the Russian defence ministry, nearly 200,000 of the evacuees were children.

While Russia has been carrying on its “evacuations” from the Eastern borders of Ukraine, Kyiv has struggled to move out people from the Azovstal steel plant and by extension the port city of Mariupol.

The United Nations has said Secretary-General António Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on arranging evacuations from the plant during a meeting this week in Moscow, with the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross involved. But the discussions as reported by the United Nations concerned civilians, not combatants. 

Also Read: ‘To save our guys’: Ukraine willing to hold Mariupol talks to aid evacuations

The Mariupol City Council said on Telegram that the evacuation of civilians from other parts of the city would begin Monday morning, according to reports from Associated Press.

Ukrainian individuals who have fled the assault of Russian forces said that civilian vehicles were being attacked and were fired upon. Russian forces were also accused of shelling roads that were designated as humanitarian corridors for safe passage.