“War has arrived”: First evacuees from Russian region attacked by Ukraine arrive in Moscow

Visibly disoriented, dozens of them descend to Moscow of one of the first trains taking evacuees from the Kursk region, the scene of an incursion of four days of the size of the Ukrainian army.

Among those arriving at the station that, ironically, bears the name of the Ukrainian capital – the Railway Station Kiev – many families with children and elderly people. Many of them seem to be in Moscow for the first time.

“It's terrible, they're bombing,” says an elderly man carrying a small travel bag, without giving his name, about the situation there.

Another, who also does not wish to identify himself, says he comes from Kurchatov, about fifty kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

While the fighting has not yet reached this town of about 40,000 inhabitants, “the anti-aircraft defense is working hard” to repel the Ukrainian bombings, he said.

Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory © AFP – Valentin RAKOVSKY, Sabrina BLANCHARD, Sylvie HUSSON

Ukraine, which has been trying to repel a Russian offensive against its territory since February 2022, launched an armed incursion of unprecedented scale into the Russian border region of Kursk on Tuesday. Four days later, fighting is still taking place there.

“The war came, so all our relatives left for Moscow because it's very scary,” a woman who came to greet her family with her ten-year-old daughter told journalists.

This train is one of those chartered by the authorities to evacuate the inhabitants of the Kursk region into which Ukrainian troops have penetrated for several tens of kilometers.

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According to Russian authorities, Ukrainian bombings left at least five civilians dead there. And nearly 3,000 people were evacuated, announced the local governor.

– “The next ones” –

At Kiev Station, evacuees ask passers-by where the exit is.

This photograph released by the press service of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry shows people being evacuated from the border areas of the Kursk region on August 9, 2024 © RUSSIAN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS MINISTRY – –

A woman in her fifties who took the train with her teenage son sits on a bench on the platform, tearfully stroking her cat Murka, whom she brought with her.

Muscovites interviewed by AFP nearby say they are ready to help the displaced financially. “That's what people are missing, I guess,” says Larissa, 59, who runs a dining car.

“One way or another, I think this has to stop. There shouldn't be a war,” she adds.

“The president is already doing everything he can” to help the victims, says Lyubov, 43.

Vladimir Putin appeared visibly angry on television on Tuesday, listening to the army report.

Liudmila, 68, would like the head of state to take “more decisive military measures” to repel the incursion.

She herself comes from Orel, about 140 km north of the city of Kursk.

“I fear that we are next. Now it's Kursk. After Kursk, you know, Orel,” she says.

If the Russian border regions, in particular that of Belgorod, have already been the target of ground assaults by fighters from Ukraine and are frequently targeted by Ukrainian bombings, the operation launched on Tuesday is exceptional in its power and duration.

The Russian army confirmed that Ukrainian troops had reached Sudja, a town of 5,500 inhabitants about ten kilometers from the border.

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations assured Friday that it was deploying more resources to help the population of the Kursk region evacuate to safe territories.

For its part, the army announced that it was sending reinforcements to repel the Ukrainian units.

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