Russia is preparing to evacuate civilians from its Kursk and Belgorod oblasts to the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to statements from Russian officials.
This comes as Ukraine continues a military operation in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, which began a week ago.
Acting Governor of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, Alexei Smirnov announced that evacuees from Kursk would be relocated to “sanatoriums and boarding houses on the coast of the Azov Sea, located from Berdiansk to Kyrylivka” in occupied Zaporizhzhia. Smirnov said this proposal came from Russian-appointed occupation leader of Zaporizhzhia, Yevhen Balytskyi.
According to Smirnov, the first flights will soon be organized to send people to temporary accommodation centers in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia volunteers reportedly have also arrived in Kursk Oblast to provide assistance to residents here on the spot.
The evacuation plans come amid an ongoing Ukrainian military operation in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on 12 August 2024 that Ukraine had taken control of over 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory. The following day, according to a video shared by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Syrskyi informed the president that Ukrainian forces now control 74 settlements in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
In response to the Ukrainian operation, Russia has declared a “counter-terrorist operation” regime in three oblasts – Bryansk, Belgorod, and Kursk.
A state of emergency at the regional level has been introduced throughout the entire territory of Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, with plans to escalate it to a federal-level state of emergency, according to Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Ukraine is not interested in taking territory in Russia’s Kursk Oblast but rather aims to protect Ukrainian lives and secure itself from Russian strikes.
The situation has led to a significant outflow of the local population from the Russian border areas. Russia reportedly redeployed some of its units from Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts in southern Ukraine in response to the Ukrainian operation in Kursk.
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