More than 100 Russian civilians have been evacuated to Ukraine following a deadly strike on a bomb shelter in the Ukrainian-occupied town of Sudzha in southwestern Russia’s Kursk region this month, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Kyiv and Moscow have pointed fingers at each other over a Feb. 1 strike that killed at least five people and left others under the rubble of a boarding school dormitory that served as a bomb shelter and humanitarian aid hub.
The attack in Sudzha took place as Russia races to retake territory that Ukrainian forces captured during a surprise cross-border incursion in August 2024.
Ukraine evacuated the civilians into its northeastern Sumy region after the Feb. 1 attack. According to the Washington Post, the evacuation is the largest movement of Russian civilians since the incursion began.
Ukraine will attempt to reach an agreement with Russia that would allow evacuees to return to Russia via neighboring Belarus. Similar agreements for smaller groups have been reached previously.
Kursk-based activist Lyubov Prilutskaya confirmed to the investigative news outlet Agentstvo that around 110 evacuees were currently in the town of Sumy.
Around 2,000 residents remain in occupied Sudzha without heating or drinking water, according to independent news website Novaya Gazeta, which reported last week that Ukrainian volunteers help them survive.
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova said this week she was in talks with Ukraine and the Red Cross to open a humanitarian corridor for Russian civilians stranded behind Ukrainian lines.
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