Russia continued evacuating residents from the Kursk region near the border with Ukraine on Monday, with the regional governor saying some 121,000 people had already left.
Regional Governor Alexei Smirnov told Putin during a video conference with governors of affected regions that “as of today 121,000 people have left and been evacuated”.
Russian officials are evacuating residents from another district in the Kursk border region and have begun evacuations in neighboring Belgorod, the governors of both regions said Monday as Russian forces battled a Ukrainian incursion for a seventh day.
Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border last Tuesday and swept across some Western parts of Russia’s Kursk region, a surprise attack that may be aimed at gaining leverage in possible ceasefire talks after the US election.
Caught by surprise, Russia by Sunday had stabilized the front in the Kursk region, though Ukraine had carved out a sliver of Russian territory where battles were continuing on Monday, according to Russian war bloggers.
“About the situation in the Belovsky district: The regional command center has decided to evacuate residents,” Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov said on social media, referring to an area with a population of over 14,000 people.
