Rostov region readies 4,500 places for possible winter accommodation of Ukrainian refugees - governor
ROSTOV-ON-DON. Sept 19 (Interfax) - About 4,500 places have been prepared in the Rostov region in the event of accommodating temporarily displaced persons from southeastern Ukraine, the region's governor Vasily Golubev told journalists on the sidelines of the Sochi 2014 international business forum on Friday.
"Preparation of places for accommodating refugees goes according to the plan. To date we have prepared between 4,000 and 4,500 places for the winter. A significant proportion of people temporarily displaced from the southeast of Ukraine are staying with Rostov region residents, with their relatives. The Rostov regional authorities, jointly with the Russian government, have been providing necessary support," Golubev said.
More than 9,000 children instead of the planned 3,000 from southeast Ukrainian families have been sent to local schools, he said. Currently, a total of 1,357 young people are studying at the Rostov region's higher-education institutions and more than 500 young children from southeast Ukraine have been allocated places in some local kindergartens. Places in other kindergartens are being allocated depending on availability. "Currently, the program for building kindergartens in the region is well underway," Golubev said.
Some 4,000 Ukrainian refugees have been given jobs, and necessary advice provided in response to over 36,000 requests, the governor also said.
With the situation in southeastern Ukraine still uncertain, a sizeable proportion of refugees are either in no hurry to go back or prepared to stay a while longer in the region because people are worried about the uncertainty in the southeast of their country, Golubev said.
