Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from Russia’s Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.
They were forced to flee their homes when Ukrainian soldiers smashed through the frontier a week ago.
It was the biggest attack on sovereign Russian territory since the Russia invaded Ukraine over two years ago.
People are being housed in temporary accommodation centres in the city and receiving food and clothes.
“There is no light, no connection, no water. There is nothing. It’s as if everyone has flown to another planet, and you are left alone. And the birds stopped singing,” says evacuee Mikhail.
“Helicopters and planes fly over the yard and shells were flying. What could we do? We left everything behind.”
Another person says there was no trade or shops working in her town and no electricity.
Residents from the border region continue to flee as Russian forces on Tuesday struck back at Ukrainian troops with missiles, drones, and airstrikes.
Russia authorities have declared a “federal-level” state of emergency in the regions of Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod.
They say 400 temporary accommodation centres across the country are ready to receive evacuees.
