The government of the Russian puppet state of Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine has ordered the evacuation of all civilians to Russia.

Announcing the move on social media, Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said Russia had agreed to provide accommodation for people leaving and that women, children and the elderly should be prioritised.

There was no immediate commment from Russian officials or from Kyiv, and a Reuters witness in the region’s capital of Donetsk said there were no signs yet of an evacuation.

“As of today, Feb. 18, a mass centralised evacuation of the population to the Russian Federation has been organised,” Pushilin said. “Women, children and the elderly are to be evacuated first,” he said.

Washington and its allies have raised fears that the upsurge in violence in the region could form part of a Russian pretext to invade Ukraine. Tensions are already high over a Russian military buildup to the north, east and south of Ukraine.

Russia, which denies planning to attack, voiced alarm earlier on Friday over a sharp increase in shelling in the region known as the Donbass.

Several hundred thousand people plan to leave the Donetsk People’s Republic to Russia’s region of Rostov, the Interfax news agency cited a source in the self-declared republic’s parliament as saying.

NOW – Sirens sound in #Donetsk after separatist leader announced the evacuation of civilians to Russia.pic.twitter.com/fdMcHzt1mL

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 18, 2022

Lines forming at gas stations in Donetsk after the evacuation announcement #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/wD0DOMzvzg

— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) February 18, 2022

Picture of the evacuation buses posted by the Russian news outlet Izvestia pic.twitter.com/FzXf6qblz4

— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) February 18, 2022

At this point, it is hard to tell what all of this means. Still, it seems like Vladimir Putin is getting closer to doing what Joe Biden encouraged back in January, that is, a “limited incursion” into Ukraine that would be met with only limited Western sanctions. And Joe Biden is getting closer to what he’s been pushing for since the beginning of this pseudo-crisis, which is a major foreign policy debacle, I’m sorry, I mean crisis, to divert the media and citizenry from the way America is being turned into a Third World sh** hole.