More than 2,000 residents of the southwestern Kursk region have been reunited with family members after Ukrainian forces withdrew from occupied areas amid Russia’s rapid counteroffensive last month, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday.
Relatives of the missing had estimated that up to 3,000 people — many of them elderly — were trapped when Ukrainian troops launched a surprise cross-border incursion into the Kursk region in August 2024.
Little was known about civilian life in the areas under Ukrainian control, and some in Russia had expressed frustration over the fate of those left behind and the lack of information from local Russian officials.
“At the request of relatives and friends, contact has been restored with more than 2,200 citizens,” the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said on Telegram.
More than 22,000 people have called the ministry’s hotline in search of information about their missing relatives, the ministry said.
Emergency authorities said they continue to evacuate towns and villages near the border with Ukraine, adding that more than 6,000 people are currently living in temporary shelters.
Ukraine’s surprise incursion in August marked the largest ground offensive against Russia since World War II. But in recent months, Russia’s counteroffensive has gradually chipped away at Ukrainian forces’ hold over swaths of territory.
Kyiv, meanwhile, continues to push for the return of its civilians held in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
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