Kursk region residents stranded in border towns as Ukrainian incursion continues

Residents of border towns and villages in Russia’s Kursk region are continuing to evacuate from the area independently amid the ongoing Ukrainian incursion and despite the absence of any state support. However, many older residents are unable to leave, Novaya Gazeta Europe has learned.

Sudzha, a town of 5,000 people just 10 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, came under heavy shelling as Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Russia on Tuesday morning. 

“I left Sudzha at 6am on 6 August, because chaotic shelling from multiple rocket launchers started,” local resident Valentin told Novaya Gazeta Europe. “There was no official evacuation. People were leaving on their own,” he said.

Many elderly residents remain stranded in Sudzha, Valentin added, with some locals asking for help getting out on social media. “My grandmother can’t walk very well and my grandfather is seriously ill. Please help them,” is one of many such messages left on a local Telegram channel.

Anton, from Lgov, another town in the Kursk region about 60 kilometres north of Sudzha, said that it had come under heavy shelling on Wednesday. Anton left Lgov for the regional capital of Kursk as he had felt the Ukrainian offensive was “inevitable”.

It is currently impossible to enter Sudzha, Valentin said, and there has been no power in the town since the early hours of Tuesday. “No one could even imagine this situation, and many doubted if they should leave, hoping that the shelling would end, like it usually did,” Valentin said.

“People were leaving in their vehicles under machine gun fire,” said Irina, who also escaped Sudzha. “Even air raid warnings do not work when the town is being shelled. It only comes on when the missiles fly past us towards Kursk.”

Maria, another resident of Sudzha who managed to leave on her own, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that the local administration had not assisted them in any way with the evacuation, and that many people remained stranded in the town with no power or running water. 

Vladimir Putin held a video call with acting Kursk Governor Alexey Smirnov on Thursday, in which he announced that anyone forced to evacuate from the affected areas near the Ukrainian border would receive 10,000 rubles (€100) in compensation and that the government would “assess other damage” in the region.

Maria told Novaya Europe that she had rented an apartment in Kursk with her own money, as to her knowledge, no temporary accommodation centres for evacuees had been set up.

All names in the story have been changed.