Russian authorities are forcing Ukrainians who seek safety to submit to strip searches and interrogations, placing some refugees in guarded camps, stripping them of their vital documents, and forcing them to stay in Russia; according to displaced Ukrainians, volunteers helping refugees, and Ukrainian and Western officials.
According to Russian Defense Ministry numbers, at least 1 million Ukrainian civilians have fled the fighting into Russia, which the Ukrainian government also accepts as valid.
In many cases, namely in Mariupol, residents were effectively forced into Russia with no option to seek refuge elsewhere. In other cases, especially in the breakaway territories of eastern Ukraine, the travel to Russia was voluntary.
Almost everyone has had to pass through "filtration camps." People suspected of sympathizing with the Ukrainian military are being detained and tortured.