Russian-backed separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine gathered children at an orphanage in the breakaway region on Friday to begin evacuating them to Russia, the Interfax news agency reported.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic announced a mass evacuation of the region's residents to Russia earlier on Friday after an increase in shelling. The self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic later issued a similar statement.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Mark Heinrich)
