Russia’s Ministry of Defense has claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces killed almost all male residents of Nikolayevo-Daryino village in the Kursk region, with only one survivor, reports RIA Novosti.
After Russian forces liberated the village on Jan. 27, they discovered that Ukrainian soldiers had held its residents hostage and killed almost all the men, the Defense Ministry reported. Locals said the Ukrainian military had also destroyed basements with grenades.
“There were still peaceful Russian citizens there who did not have time to evacuate when the district was captured by units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in August 2024,” stated the ministry. “Only one man remained in the village, who miraculously escaped; the rest were killed by Ukrainian soldiers.”
According to reports from locals, they were held hostage for more than six months by the Ukrainian army, who “used them as a human shield,” mocked them and killed them.
“My husband was killed for no reason; he went home to get some water,” one local resident told the Russian troops who finally freed the village.
The surviving residents were anxious to relocate deeper inside Russia, with an initial group escorted by the Russian military some five kilometers in freezing weather and a snowstorm.
“Due to bad weather, the enemy did not use reconnaissance and attack drones, and its artillery did not work, which helped the people, accompanied by paratroopers, to safely ford the river and reach the area where the evacuation transport was arriving,” the Defense Ministry said.
The evacuees received medical care and were also sent to social rehabilitation centers. Several dozen more civilians were also then evacuated from Nikolayevo-Daryino, all of whom arrived safely.
Crimes committed by Ukrainian military and mercenaries in border regions have been documented and investigated by Russia, with some already convicted and awaiting sentencing. A counter-terrorist operation regime is in effect in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, according to RIA Novosti.
President Vladimir Putin noted at an extended meeting of the Defense Ministry board that the Kyiv authorities commit crimes against their own and Russian people every day, so the task of the military justice bodies is to record all these violations, especially against the civilian population, and the task of the special services is to find and punish the criminals.
None of these reports can be independently corroborated, and Russia has been responsible for far more civilian deaths during the war so far.
