While occupational officials appear to be  rushing a sham referendum in occupied Luhansk, old people keep fleeing the region en masse, said regional governor Serhiy Gaidai on Thursday.

The pre-war records showed Luhansk region had over 330 thousand pensioners. ‘Over the last 6 months, pension application and its renewal was sought with the occupational administration by only 110 thousand individuals,’ said Gaidai.

The ‘two thirds’ of the elderly people have fled from the ‘Russian world’ to live in the ‘civilized world’.

‘The most of those who failed to evacuate are the residents of the territories seized in the first weeks of the war. They just failed to run away,’ added the governor.