Trapped in limbo: Kursk evacuees face uncertainty amid ongoing cross-border fire

CGTN Europe

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

Transcript

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.

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