In recent days, more than 100 Russian civilians, including some seriously wounded, have been evacuated to Ukraine following the intensification of fighting in the Kursk region. According to The Washington Post the large-scale evacuation was the result of a 1 February airstrike on the main bomb shelter in the town of Sudzha. At least five people were killed, and an unknown number remained trapped in the rubble.
Most of the victims were evacuated at night, using Ukrainian civilian and military transport. The convoys travelled without headlights, avoiding Russian drones patrolling the area. Among the evacuees were many elderly people who left Russia with only what they had on them. They were met by Ukrainian medics and volunteers of the Ukrainian Red Cross, who promptly took them to hospitals and temporary shelters in Sumy region.
Read also: Announcement of the second cohort application for the REDpreneurUA program by the Ukrainian Red Cross
The crossing was the largest since August last year, when Ukrainian troops occupied a large area in the Kursk region. Kyiv sees this controlled region as a possible tool for a future exchange for Ukrainian land occupied by Russia.
The Ukrainian side claims that a Russian guided aerial bomb struck the shelter in Sudzha on 1 February, while Moscow insists it was a Ukrainian missile attack. Russian officials did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the Ukrainian military, some Russian civilians stranded in Ukrainian-controlled territory have agreed to be evacuated. In previous cases, such groups have been handed over to Russia via Belarus, and negotiations are underway to repeat this scheme for new evacuees.
Read also: Ukrainian Red Cross mobile rehabilitation teams expand their work in Ukraine
The Ukrainian authorities also emphasise that Russia has forcibly transferred Ukrainian civilians, including children, to its territory, often sending them to summer camps or for adoption. Many Ukrainians have also disappeared in Russian prisons.
Evacuated Russians interviewed by the journalists were sheltered in hospitals and specially equipped centres in Sumy region. They noted that Ukrainian law enforcement officers check their documents for identification purposes, but they have freedom of movement. Some have already left the shelter – one woman went to her Ukrainian relatives, while another evacuee visited his wounded friend in hospital who also survived the shelling in Suzha.
Read also: Ukrainian Red Cross begins restoration of the Children’s Cardiology Center in Kyiv
