Separatists in the Donbas region of Ukraine are calling for all "able-bodied" men to prepare to fight in response to aggression from Kyiv.

"I appeal to all the men of the republic, who are able to hold weapons in their hands, to stand up for their families, children, wives, mothers," Donetsk People’s Republic leader Denis Pushilin said, according to a translation reported in The Hill. 

"Together we will achieve victory, we will protect the Donbas and all Russian people."

Pushilin said he signed an order to activate military reserves, as did another separatist leader, Leonid Pasechnik, banning men 55 and younger from leaving the area and allows people of the Luhansk People’s Republic to use resources to defend themselves.

Russian media said more than 10,000 people left the Donbas region of Ukraine and crossed over into Russia, CNN reported Saturday. 

"Seven regions of Russia are ready to accept refugees," deputy head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations Viktor Yatsutsenko said according to the CNN report. "These are the Krasnodar Territory, Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Oryol, Bryansk, Moscow regions."

The exodus in the Russian-backed republics in southern Ukraine comes after the separatist leaders proclaimed that a Ukrainian army offensive "was imminent."

The latest escalation in tensions come as an estimated 200,000 Russian troops surround Ukraine for a possible invasion that President Joe Biden said Friday may happen "in the coming days."

Biden has promised severe economic sanctions and consequences if Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to invade, but Putin has denied any such plans.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday that a Russian invasion, or attempt at intimidation, could disrupt the "entire international order," the Washington Post reported.

"The world has been watching in disbelief as we face the largest build-up of troops on European soil since the darkest days of the Cold War," von der Leyen Saturday at the Munich Security Conference.

She accused Russia of acting in bad faith by amassing more than 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border while citing its opposition to Kyiv’s NATO membership, saying the Kremlin has chosen to "instill fear and call it security demands."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on both sides to reach a peaceful solution.

"We can only stop this crisis in its tracks if we negotiate," he said. "We are ready to negotiate, and in doing so we will of course make a distinction between untenable demands."

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