A number of residents from Russia’s Kursk Region, evacuated from areas currently under Ukrainian military control, will be relocated to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southern Ukraine, the acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, announced earlier today. As per the official, such an agreement was reached with the Russian-installed “governor” of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Yevgeny Balitsky, during a telephone conversation.
According to Smirnov, the evacuees will soon be transported to temporary accommodation centers in the occupied region of Ukraine. It is reported that, at Balitsky's suggestion, sanatoriums and boarding houses along the coast of the Sea of Azov, from Berdiansk to Kyrylivka, will be used to house civilians fleeing Kursk.
Smirnov was cut off by Vladimir Putin at a government meeting yesterday when he mentioned the depth of the Ukrainian army’s advance into Russian territory. “The depth of penetration into the territory of the Kursk Region is 12 kilometers, the width along the front is 40 kilometers,” Smirnov said. Putin retorted by saying Smirnov’s mandate was limited to describing the “socio-economic situation” and “assistance [being offered] to the people.”
Smirnov went on to add that the battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the Kursk Region have left 12 civilians dead and 121 wounded, 10 of them children. According to the governor, 180,000 people are slated for evacuation from the Kursk Region, with approximately 121,000 having already left the area.
It is important to note that the numbers cited by Smirnov are likely outdated due to the rapidly evolving situation on the ground. As per Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukrainian forces controlled close to 1,000 square kilometers in Russia’s Kursk Region as of August 12.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported earlier today on battles taking place in the villages of Kauchuk, Obshchy Kolodez, and Alekseevsky, which are situated 26 to 28 kilometers from the Ukrainian-Russian border.
On August 8, residents of the Sudzhansky District in Kursk — the site of the ongoing Ukrainian military operation — expressed their frustration over deficiencies in the Russian government’s evacuation efforts, despite earlier announcements from Smirnov.
On August 10, Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that 76,000 people had been evacuated — which is more than the total population of the conflict-affected section of the Kursk Region. The following day, the Ministry claimed that approximately 8,000 people had evacuated independently from the border areas, adding that more than 6,000 evacuees were housed in temporary accommodation centers.