Trapped in limbo: Kursk evacuees face uncertainty amid ongoing cross-border fire
Thousands of people evacuated from the Kursk region are now trapped in uncertainty. As cross-border tensions continue, these evacuees face an unclear future, unsure of when or if they can return home.
#Ukraine #Russia #Kursk
#Ukraine #Russia #Kursk
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well, earlier this month, Moscow evacuated residents from a region near the border with Ukraine.
00:05With little hope of returning soon, they're facing an uncertain future.
00:10Russian authorities say more than 100,000 people have fled the border areas.
00:15This is around 6 million Ukrainian refugees have been registered across Europe as of July this year.
00:22Our correspondent Alyosha Milenkovich reports.
00:25The western Russian city of Kursk has become a refuge for those fleeing the violence along the border areas with Ukraine.
00:33The evacuees, many of whom left just with their clothes on their backs,
00:39now find themselves in temporary accommodation centers like this one.
00:44People here are quite camera shy.
00:47Most of them have relatives in territories controlled by the Ukrainian forces,
00:52and they don't want to make their position harder than it is appearing on any TV screen.
00:59In this recreational park on the outskirts of Kursk, a mobile medical facility provides much-needed health care,
01:06while evacuees make do with makeshift clotheslines strung between the trees.
01:12And the children here are trying to maintain some normalcy amidst the chaos and violence that recently experienced.
01:21Tatiana is an evacuee from Suja.
01:24She's still waiting for news about her husband, who was held by the Ukrainian forces earlier this month,
01:30while trying to help a friend's mother evacuate.
01:37There are negotiations, and this is known for sure.
01:40But so far, the Ukrainian side is not agreeing for their exchange to take place or to provide a corridor in our direction.
01:47There is information that they're offering a corridor in their direction.
01:52Tatiana, like many others here, is holding on to hope that a prisoner exchange will bring her husband back.
02:01In another facility in the city center, young volunteers, many of whom are evacuees themselves,
02:07assist with distributing basic necessities like soap, rice and toilet paper.
02:15Every day, 15 to 20 volunteers work for us, half of them refugees themselves.
02:22They are people who came from border areas, came to us once for help,
02:27and seeing that we have a lot of work here, they stayed and are helping.
02:3215-year-old Darina is one of those teenagers that volunteers to help,
02:38and she remembers the moment when she and her family had to flee their home.
02:45We thought it would be for one evening and that we would return home that day,
02:50so we left only with documents.
02:52We did not take anything with us at all.
02:54We left without our things.
02:56Then it turned out that we would not return home anytime soon.
03:01All these people, like Tatiana and Darina, just want the fighting to end so they can go back to their homes.
03:10But for now, they remain stranded here without knowing when and if that will happen.
03:17Aljoša Milenković, CGTN, Kursk.