Key facts
- Hundreds of Russians remain missing after Ukrainian forces briefly occupied parts of Russia's Kursk region in August 2024.
- An estimated 2,000 people stayed in captured settlements, influenced by Russian state TV reports.
- Russian authorities reported 517 Kursk residents missing in early 2025, a list criticized by families.
- Volunteers, not authorities, funded evacuations and body retrievals.
- Lyubov identified her mother's body in a mortuary in October 2025, months after providing a DNA sample.
- Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces stated all evacuated civilians were handed over to Russia.
Russian families are expressing frustration and resentment towards their government's handling of the aftermath of a brief Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region in August 2024, which has left hundreds of people missing. Many residents who remained in the captured villages, reportedly influenced by Russian state television's assurances that the situation was under control, are now unaccounted for or confirmed dead.
Lyubov, whose mother lived in the Sudzha area of Kursk, last spoke to her mother the day after Ukrainian forces entered the region. She blames Russian state propaganda for her mother's decision to stay, recalling assurances that the situation would be resolved quickly. The local governor has stated that over 300 Russians are still missing in the region, though the true figure is unknown.
For eight months, while Ukrainian forces controlled parts of the area, communication links were down. Nearly 200 Russians sent a joint letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the United Nations, requesting a humanitarian corridor for civilian evacuation, which did not materialize. As Russian forces retook the territory in late autumn 2024, families began forming groups to search for information about their loved ones.
One resident started compiling a list of missing and deceased individuals based on videos published by Ukrainian military and journalists, which eventually grew to about 1,000 names. Appeals to the Red Cross and the Kursk interior ministry for help reportedly went unanswered. In early 2025, Russia's human rights commissioner released a list of 517 missing Kursk residents, which families criticized as incompetent and disrespectful, noting it confused missing individuals with those searching for them.
Heavy fighting was reported in late 2024 in the village of Darino, Lyubov's mother's home, with authorities stating 90% of it was destroyed. After Russian forces regained control, they began evacuating survivors and bodies. Lyubov learned from an evacuee that her mother had died from a head injury under unclear circumstances, and that other elderly residents had also succumbed to wartime conditions. Despite this, Lyubov waited in vain for her mother's body to be recovered, while other families remained unaware of their relatives' fates.
Volunteers, including local village council head Yuri Tkachev, took it upon themselves to retrieve bodies, often paying for necessary supplies like body bags and fuel with their own money or donations. Although regional officials met with search groups in the latter half of 2025, relatives felt it had little impact. Lyubov eventually identified her mother's body in a mortuary in October 2025, after being told her DNA sample had been lost. Her mother's body had remained unidentified for months. Unable to bury her mother in their destroyed home village, Lyubov had her cremated, with the ashes now in her apartment in Belgorod.