Ukrainian offensive triggers mass evacuation in Kursk region

There is an ongoing operation by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of Russia. The regional authorities announced a mandatory evacuation of the entire Glushkovsky district on Wednesday.

The governor of the Kursk region, Aleksey Smirnov, announced the start of the mandatory evacuation of residents of the village of Glushkovo and the entire Glushkovsky district. The village is located about 10 kilometres from the border with Ukraine. Earlier, the evacuation of residents in the Bolshevik and Bielovsky districts of the Kursk region and Krasnoyaruzhsky in the Belgorod region was announced.

- The departure of local residents will be coordinated by law enforcement agencies, the military, the local administration and vigilantes of the Kursk Patriot Center. I ask everyone to follow the recommendations - said the governor of the Kursk region, Aleksey Smirnov.

Since the Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region, over a thousand people have been reported missing to the organization responsible for searching for the missing – reported the Moscow Times, citing the Lisa Alert organization, which has been helping with searches for several years.

The Russian operational command of the Kursk region appealed to residents to refrain from publishing data while searching for relatives and friends due to the threat of "blackmail and misinformation." The command said data can be disclosed "only in closed chats with verified participants." Acting Governor Aleksey Smirnov emphasized that publishing such information and requests only "worsens the situation" as "the enemy actively uses all available information for their own purposes."