Some Kursk residents leaving Russia for Ukraine
After taking control over the Russian town of Sudzha, the Ukrainian army has now established humanitarian corridors, allowing civilizians to leave. Some residents make their way to Ukraine. DW correspondent Nick Connolly has met a mother and son in the Ukrainian town of Sumy.
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00:00It's like there's a swarm of bees above your head everywhere you go.
00:04Drones are everywhere in Suzha.
00:06You can't even go out into your garden or walk down to the river.
00:10Our house is almost in the centre of town.
00:12All the taller buildings in town, anything higher than two floors, they're all in ruins.
00:19When Ukraine's army marched into Russia's Kursk region, Oleg was away on business in
00:23Moscow.
00:24His 88-year-old mother, Galina, was left back alone in Suzha.
00:30I was in the basement.
00:32It was dark all the time.
00:35I would light a candle to see what I was eating, but otherwise I was in the dark.
00:40Oleg tried to make his way back to Suzha, but by the time he got there, Russian troops
00:45had already retreated from the town.
00:49The road was already mined.
00:51On the edge of Suzha, a drone hit my car.
00:55That's how I hurt my arm.
00:57I was concussed.
00:58I managed to get home on burst tyres.
01:02I spent the next week in the cellar with my mother.
01:09Oleg says Suzha's Russian authorities did nothing to help locals leave.
01:15The local officials just got themselves and their families out.
01:19There was no organised evacuation.
01:22People tried to get out on their own but failed.
01:24There were burnt out cars everywhere.
01:27Oleg was sure that getting across the front lines to Russian-held territory was simply
01:31too dangerous.
01:32He and his mother have an advantage over many others trying to get out of Suzha.
01:36They have somewhere else to go and a second passport.
01:40Oleg and his mother have joint American and Russian citizenship after living in the US
01:45in the 1990s.
01:46As Ukrainian soldiers became a more familiar sight on the streets of Suzha, it turned out
01:50that leaving would be easier and faster than they could have imagined.
01:56I saw some Ukrainian military vehicles stop outside.
02:00I shouted to them out of the window and told them not to shoot.
02:04They told me I could come out and talk to them.
02:06I told them I wanted to evacuate my mother.
02:09Fifteen minutes later they came back, put us in a car and drove us to Sumy.
02:18It's been just over a day now since mother and son got to Ukraine.
02:21Time to get medical help and to take stock.
02:26I'm exhausted.
02:30I've lost track of time.
02:35I can't even remember what month it is.
02:39I remember the Second World War, the sirens, the air raid warnings, running for cover.
02:50And now this.
02:57Theirs is certainly an unusual story, but they're unlikely to be the last Russian refugees
03:01heading for Ukraine.
03:03As fighting in the Kursk region drags on, many Russian civilians might soon have to
03:07choose between taking a chance on crossing the front lines and taking a chance on Ukraine.