Ukraine said Thursday it was ready to work with Moscow in opening a humanitarian corridor for Russian civilians stranded in border areas captured by its army.
More than 1,500 civilians are estimated to be still living in areas of Russia's southwestern Kursk region that Ukraine's army seized in a shock cross-border offensive launched in August.
Anger at the Russian authorities has since been growing among those who have lost contact with family members believed to be trapped without communication on the other side of the front line.
"We are ready to open a humanitarian corridor from the Kursk region to... Russia in response to an official request of the Russian Federation," the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement to AFP.
"Apparently, the Russians do not want such a humanitarian corridor because we have not received a corresponding request from them," the presidency said, accusing Moscow of "indifference" to the fate of its own citizens.
The offer to help facilitate their return comes as the Russian military said Ukrainian forces had attempted a fresh offensive in Kursk, with Zelensky praising his fighters who have controlled swaths of Russian territory for the last six months.
Russia has been clawing back territory, but Ukraine still occupies dozens of border settlements around the regional hub of Sudzha.
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