Residents of the Kursk Region ask to open a humanitarian corridor for evacuation. The appeal of Russian citizens was forwarded to Lev Shlosberg
Press Release, 3.02.2025
Photo by Anatoly Zhdanov, Kommersant
Residents of the Sudzha District, the Kursk Region, ask all who can help to open a humanitarian corridor for evacuation from the occupied territories. The appeal of Russian citizens was forwarded to the Deputy Chairman of Yabloko Lev Shlosberg for publication.
On 1 February, an initiative group of Russian citizens forwarded their appeal for help to Yabloko Deputy Chairman Lev Shlosberg for publication. In their appeal, relatives of residents of the Sudzha District (situated in a part of Russia’s Kursk region held by Ukrainian forces) note that there were about 100 people in the dormitory of the Sudzha boarding school, which was hit on 31 January – the elderly, disabled and children.
In total, according to the lists compiled by the initiative group, over 3,000 people remain in Sudzha, including more than 30 children. They need to be urgently evacuated from the territory of military actions.
It should be noted that in September 2024, major Russian media published appeals from relatives of Sudzha residents demanding the opening of a humanitarian corridor. Families of residents of the Sudzha District who found themselves in the territory occupied by Ukrainian troops sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
At the same time, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent an appeal to Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, calling the IRC to become an international mediator in organising negotiations on a ceasefire and organising humanitarian corridors. After that, at the end of November, the only successful episode of the withdrawal of 46 people from Sudzha to the Sumy region and from there to the Bryansk region took place with the assistance of the IRC.
Nevertheless, several thousand people remained behind the line of military action under occupation, and still need help.
Deputy Chairman of Yabloko Lev Shlosberg states in the interview to Zhivoi Gvozd channel that the political will of the heads of two states – Russia and Ukraine – is needed to organise a humanitarian corridor.
“Right now we are talking about the lives of thousands of people. Political will must be demonstrated not just by individuals who act as heads of state. They are people. They must act like people in this situation, otherwise the whole catastrophe in which we are now living will never end,” Lev Shlosberg said.
Posted: February 3rd, 2025 under Governance, Human Rights, Russia-Ukraine relations.