Return of 33 Kursk Residents from Ukraine: A Humanitarian Effort Amid Ongoing Conflict

Thirty-three civilians from the Kursk region in southwestern Russia have returned home from Ukraine after negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, as reported on Monday by Tatyana Moskalkova, the presidential human rights commissioner.

“Most of them are elderly, with four children among them,” Moskalkova noted on Telegram. “Many are suffering from severe injuries and illnesses.”

She thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross and Belarus for their assistance in the negotiation process and acknowledged the support from various Russian government bodies and special services in facilitating the return journey.

Previously, Moskalkova had claimed that Ukrainian forces had forcibly relocated over 1,000 residents of Kursk since they entered the area in August, an incident that caused the displacement of more than 152,000 individuals.

On the recent third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moskalkova mentioned that an agreement had been reached with Kyiv and the Red Cross to evacuate an unspecified number of Kursk residents from Ukraine through Belarus.

According to Acting Governor of the Kursk region Alexander Khinshtein, the youngest of those evacuated was under two years old, while the oldest was 89. He indicated that nine of the returning individuals would require hospitalization, while the others would be reuniting with their families later that Tuesday.

An official list of missing persons created by Russian authorities initially indicated around 500 individuals unaccounted for in areas controlled by Ukraine, though local residents believe the actual figure might be closer to 3,000.

Ukraine, which has thousands of its own civilians detained in territories occupied by Russia since the invasion in February 2022, claims to be offering safe passage for Russians in the Kursk region.