Ukrainian troops have forcibly taken more than 1,000 residents of southwestern Russia’s Kursk region since launching their incursion in early August, Russia’s presidential human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said Monday.
“I’ve received messages regarding more than 1,000 such people from relatives trying to find them,” Moskalkova told the Argumenty i Fakty pro-Kremlin newspaper.
“We know nothing about their fate. This is a gross violation of their rights and international norms of treatment of civilians,” Moskalkova added, noting that she plans to raise the issue during an upcoming meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart.
It was not possible to independently verify Moskalkova’s claims and Ukraine has not yet responded to the accusations.
More than 112,000 residents have been displaced from their homes in the Kursk region, 12,300 of whom have been relocated to temporary shelters, Moskalkova said, adding that “it’s impossible to answer for now” when they can return.
Overall, she said 30,415 people from Russian areas bordering Ukraine — including the Kursk and Belgorod regions as well as the annexed parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions — are currently staying at 960 temporary shelters spread across Russia.
Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion of the Kursk region on Aug. 6, capturing dozens of towns and villages in a bid to draw Russian troops away from the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said over the weekend that his troops were “holding the line” in the Kursk region against the Russian forces’ counteroffensive.
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