At least 56 people from southwestern Russia’s Kursk region have been killed and 770 are still missing since Ukraine launched its surprise incursion early last month, Russian officials said Monday.
Russian Foreign Ministry special envoy for “crimes of the Kyiv regime,” Rodion Miroshnik, said another 266 people, including 11 children, were injured during the attacks between early August and the end of last week.
“This is only a fraction of what we know for sure,” Miroshnik said at a press conference, as quoted by the state-run news agency RIA Novosti.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi told Reuters that Kyiv follows international humanitarian law and does not target civilians. He also said that Russia’s claims cannot be independently verified due to the lack of access granted to international organizations.
Meanwhile, Kursk region Governor Alexei Smirnov said 770 people have been reported missing since the incursion began on Aug. 6.
He added that 268 residents from the Korenevsky district, including 118 from the missing persons list, were found after Russian forces retook the area. Another 101 missing people, mostly elderly, were found sheltering with relatives or in temporary housing.
Smirnov previously told President Vladimir Putin that evacuation orders remain in place for eight Kursk region districts, home to 152,000 people, since Ukraine’s surprise attack.
Kyiv claims to have advanced several kilometers into Russian territory, capturing towns and villages, including the border town of Sudzha. Meanwhile, Moscow asserts its forces have retaken at least a dozen villages in a counteroffensive.
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