After Ukraine’s advance into Russia’s Kursk region, authorities there want to move refugees to a Russian-occupied area in Ukraine.
Kursk Deputy Governor Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram that he had discussed this solution with the governor of the Zaporizhia region. His colleague Yevgeny Balitsky proposed using the sanatoriums and boarding houses on the Sea of Azov to house the evacuees.
“In the coming days, we will put together the first transports to take people to emergency shelters in the Zaporizhia region,” Smirnov said. Russia annexed the Zaporizhia region, which belongs to Ukraine, in the fall of 2022 and had already appointed Ukrainian Balizki as its governor, loyal to Moscow. Although Moscow does not fully control the territory, it mainly occupied the entrance to the Sea of Azov, where sanatoriums also operate to this day. That is where the refugees will now be accommodated.
Kiev: Kursk offensive aims to protect own citizens
Ukraine has now announced that it does not want to permanently occupy the land it has occupied on Russian territory, according to official information from Kiev. Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not need foreign territory, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhij Tychyj said in Kiev. “We want to protect the lives of our people,” he said. Ukraine sees its conquests in Russia’s Kursk region only as a bargaining chip for peace negotiations.
Like President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday night, Tychy justified the operation, which has been underway since Tuesday last week, by saying it was intended to prevent Russian attacks on the neighboring Ukrainian region of Sumy and to disrupt Russian logistics to prevent Moscow from sending additional troops into the Donetsk battle zone in eastern Ukraine.
Thousands of people from Kursk region brought to safety
“The sooner Russia agrees to restore a just peace, (…) the sooner the Ukrainian army’s attacks on Russian territory will stop,” Tychyi said, according to Ukrainian media. The Ukrainian army is a civilized force and adheres to the rules of warfare and international humanitarian law, he stressed. Thousands of people were rescued by Russian authorities in the Kursk region. “The target of the Ukrainian armed forces is the soldiers,” Tychyi said.
The Ukrainian army has been attacking the Russian region of Kursk since August 6, and has captured 28 cities there, according to local authorities. The Ukrainian DeepState project, on the other hand, has so far brought some 44 cities under the control of Kiev. Ukraine has been fighting off a Russian invasion for almost two and a half years and last week took the fight into enemy territory for the first time.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
