KYIV: Some 30,415 people including nearly 8,000 children have been evacuated from areas bordering Ukraine due to shelling and attacks, Russia’s human rights commissioner said in remarks published on Monday.
Tatyana Moskalkova, the commissioner, told news outlet Argumenty I Fakty in an interview that the evacuees have been placed in nearly 1,000 temporary accommodation centers across Russia.
Ukraine, subjected to an invasion from Russia since February 2022, has retaliated with shelling and other attacks on Russia’s border regions, with the military saying the strikes target infrastructure key to Moscow’s war effort.
Ukrainian forces launched an incursion into the Kursk region in August, taking control of dozens of settlements and holding most positions since.
Moskalkova said she had received appeals regarding more than 1,000 Russian citizens from Kursk, whose whereabouts are unknown and who were said to have been taken by Ukrainian forces.
Reuters could not independently verify Moskalkova’s reports. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.
Both sides deny targeting or imprisoning civilians but thousands have died in the war, the vast majority of them Ukrainians.
Moskalkova also told the news outlet that she has visited more than 2,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia and that similar visits with Russian prisoners have been conducted by her counterpart in Ukraine.
Russia says more than 30,000 evacuated from areas bordering Ukraine
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Russia says more than 30,000 evacuated from areas bordering Ukraine
- Ukrainian forces turned the tables against aggressor Russia by launching an incursion into the Kursk region in August, taking control of dozens of settlements and holding most positions since
Pakistan, Afghanistan exchange heavy fire along border, officials say
- Mujahid said Pakistani forces launched attacks in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province
- “Pakistan remains fully alert and committed to ensuring its territorial integrity and the safety of our citizens,” Zaidi said
KABUL: Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged heavy fire along their border late on Friday, officials from both countries said, amid heightened tensions following failed peace talks earlier this week.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces launched attacks in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province. A spokesman for Pakistan’s Prime Minister accused Afghan forces of “unprovoked firing” along the Chaman border.
“Pakistan remains fully alert and committed to ensuring its territorial integrity and the safety of our citizens,” spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi said in a statement.
The exchange came two days after a new round of peace talks between the South Asian neighbors
ended without a breakthrough, though both sides agreed to continue their fragile ceasefire.
The talks in Saudi Arabia last weekend were the latest in a series of meetings hosted by Qatar, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia aimed at cooling tensions following deadly border clashes in October.
At the heart of the dispute, Islamabad says Afghan-based militants have carried out recent attacks in Pakistan, including suicide bombings involving Afghan nationals. Kabul denies the charge, saying it cannot be held responsible for security inside Pakistan.
Dozens were killed in October’s clashes, the worst violence on the border since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021.
