Russian-backed separatists packed civilians onto buses out of breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on Friday, a shock turn in a conflict the West believes Moscow plans to use as justification for all-out invasion of its neighbor reut.rs/3rZnWHU 1/5
Warning sirens blared in Donetsk after it and the other self-proclaimed region, Luhansk, announced an evacuation to Russia, with women, children and the elderly going first 2/5
Hours later, a Russian UAZ jeep exploded outside the rebel government building in the city of Donetsk, capital of the region by the same name. @Reuters journalists saw the vehicle surrounded by shrapnel, a wheel tossed away by the blast 3/5
Most of the several million civilians in the two rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine are Russian speakers, with many already granted citizenship by Moscow 4/5
Within hours of the surprise announcement, families assembled at an evacuation point in Donetsk to board buses for Russia. One weeping woman embraced her teenage children.
Ukraine's government and the separatists exchanged blame reut.rs/3rZnWHU 5/5
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