Reunited Amid Chaos: Kursk Evacuees Find Hope After Months of Separation

«Grandma, I miss you. I hope you can come back soon.»

These heartfelt words were captured in a video recorded by Lyubov Prilutskaya and her children, aiming to persuade her elderly parents, who became trapped under Ukrainian control after Kyiv initiated an incursion into the Kursk region in August 2024, to evacuate for their safety.

For more than seven months, Prilutskaya had been unable to reach her parents, Alexandra Pashchenko and Ivan Prilutsky, as they remained in their village close to Sudzha, a town with around 5,000 inhabitants and the largest area to come under Ukrainian occupation during the assault.

Last week, when Russian troops announced they had regained complete control of the town, Prilutskaya’s parents were initially reluctant to leave their home due to the dangers involved. However, after watching the video from their grandchildren, they finally chose to evacuate.

«They’re feeling a little unwell at the moment, but overall, they’re okay,» Prilutskaya mentioned in an interview with the local publication Kurskiye Izvestiya on Friday. «Their main concern is about the house they left behind.»

Recently, Russian forces have taken control of most of the Kursk region, an area that Kyiv had hoped to leverage in potential peace discussions. Just last week, President Vladimir Putin urged remaining Ukrainian troops in the area to surrender.

For months prior, residents of border villages, many of them elderly, were effectively trapped under Ukrainian control. Families of those reported missing estimated that as many as 3,000 people remained in occupied regions, while authorities indicated in January that there had been reports of at least 1,174 missing individuals, with 240 of them identified.

To date, Russian officials have evacuated 508 individuals from the reclaimed settlements in the Kursk region, according to acting Governor Alexander Khinshtein on Wednesday. Some evacuees were moved to temporary shelters while others were taken in by relatives.

Prilutskaya has been among the most outspoken advocates for evacuating those in Ukrainian-held territories, persistently urging Russian officials to create safe passageways and compile a list of missing Kursk residents.

Frustrated by the lack of action from authorities, she even recorded video appeals directed at Khinshtein and Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova.

«We have been living in constant uncertainty… The fear of how our loved ones are faring there — amidst ongoing shelling and bombings, without food, heat, or water, and wondering if they are still alive — is overwhelming,» Prilutskaya expressed in an appeal released in January.

Fortunately for Prilutskaya’s family, the situation resolved positively.

However, since the invasion of Ukraine, the Kursk region has reportedly seen at least 167 civilian fatalities, with an additional 43,000 individuals impacted by the conflict, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee’s report on Friday.

This week, Kursk authorities also announced the beginning of evacuations of deceased civilians from previously occupied areas.

Pro-Kremlin war correspondent Alexander Kots, who visited Sudzha after the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces, reported discovering newly dug graves in the town.

«Many people died—those who were bedridden and sick; they were all left behind,» a Sudzha resident told Kots in a video interview.

Ukraine has previously released numerous videos from occupied Sudzha, showing soldiers providing humanitarian assistance to local residents. In footage published by the Ukrainian media outlet TRO Media, Kursk residents expressed gratitude for Kyiv’s forces while lamenting that Russian authorities had abandoned them.

The Moscow Times has been unable to independently confirm the living conditions for residents of the Kursk region under Ukrainian occupation.

Individuals from areas once held by Russian forces spoke of oppression, torture, and sexual violence. The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated in a report last year that Russian forces «conducted widespread arbitrary detention of civilians, often accompanied by torture and ill-treatment» in occupied Ukrainian territories.

Prilutskaya estimates that as many as 1,500 individuals may still be in Sudzha, she conveyed to the independent regional media outlet 7×7 on Wednesday.

She noted that her parents were in the process of acquiring the necessary documentation to obtain government assistance for those who lived under Ukrainian control. At the same time, they have expressed a desire to return to Sudzha.

«They’re already asking to go back. We’re doing everything we can to dissuade them,» Prilutskaya said.