Dozens of refugees who fled from Ukraine's cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk border region staged a protest in the regional capital of Kursk on Sunday, the independent 7x7 news website reported.
Three months after Ukraine launched its surprise incursion into the Kursk region on Aug. 6, refugees from the region's Sudzhansky district say they have not yet been compensated for their lost housing or given suitable temporary accommodation, the Agentsvo investigative outlet reported.
“We don't care where we freeze. What difference does it make if we freeze in the street, we are not at home anyway,” one of the refugees from the town of Sudzha, which fell to Ukrainian troops in August, told 7x7.
A representative from the Kursk regional administration approached the protesters, calling the rally an “illegal action” and asking them to submit a joint appeal to the authorities, 7x7 reported.
The protesters reportedly demanded that authorities recognize that there was a war in the region and asked why Sudzhansky district head Alexander Bogachev, who “said nothing” to residents of the region following the Ukrainian incursion, did not come out to meet them.
Another regional official later came to the square and promised to arrange a meeting between the protesters and Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov on Tuesday.
But one protester later told 7x7 that “the governor is not ready” to meet with residents, so Bogachev will attend the meeting instead.
The protest comes days after refugees from another border district, Bolshesoldatsky, staged a rally in Kursk to complain about their inability to rent temporary accommodation due to high rent prices and to demand housing certificates.
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