Rebels evacuate east Ukraine residents

Moscow/Kyiv/Donetsk | Russian-backed separatists packed civilians onto buses out of breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on Friday, a shock turn in a conflict the West fears is part of a plan by Moscow to create a pretext for an attack on its neighbour.

Warning sirens blared in Donetsk after it and the other self-proclaimed “People’s Republic”, Luhansk, announced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people to Russia, with women, children and the elderly going first.

Reuters