“The majority of residents in the border areas of the Kursk region have been temporarily displaced and are in safe locations,” the ministry noted on the social network Telegram, without providing the total number of civilians affected.
However, it specified that 8,000 of the displaced individuals are in shelters located in 11 Russian regions.
On Monday, the acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, stated that about 121,000 people have been evacuated from the border areas with Ukraine and another 60,000 have been moved to safer locations.
Smirnov also claimed that Ukrainian forces control 28 localities in Kursk territory, home to about 2,000 people, but did not provide information about their current situation.
The Ukrainian military command assured today that it maintains control over up to 76 Russian localities and announced plans for the establishment of “humanitarian corridors” in Kursk for the evacuation of civilians.
At the same time, Ukrainian authorities announced a massive evacuation from the Sumy region, bordering the Russian province of Kursk, which will involve the abandonment of 138 localities by their inhabitants.
In Belgorod, another region near the border with Ukraine, local authorities referred today to a certain stabilization of the situation and the beginning of the return home for some of the previously evacuated civilians.
The Russian military offensive in Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24, 2022, has plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Ukraine has relied on financial and military assistance from Western allies, who have also imposed sanctions on key sectors of the Russian economy to try to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance its war effort.