More than 300 Russians are officially reported missing following Ukraine's 2024 offensive into Russia's Kursk region, but the true figure remains unknown, with many families desperately seeking information about their relatives.
Local officials met with groups searching for the missing throughout the latter half of 2025, but relatives reported little progress. The search for bodies, along with fuel for evacuation vehicles, was often funded by volunteers and private donations rather than official channels. This lack of governmental support has led to frustration and a sense of abandonment among those affected.
One resident, Lyubov, recounted her search for her mother, who disappeared during the incursion. After providing a DNA sample in January, she was informed it was lost, and her mother's body had remained unidentified in the mortuary for months. In October, Lyubov identified her mother from a photograph in the regional capital's mortuary, recognizing her by a familiar jumper. Her mother had been found lying in the street in April 2025. Unable to fulfill her wish to bury her mother in their home village, Lyubov had her cremated, and her ashes are now kept in her apartment in Belgorod.
Lyubov expressed bitterness towards the government for failing to prevent the incursion, not initiating timely evacuations, and downplaying the severity of the situation. She recalled a time when crossing the border into Ukraine for everyday shopping was common, a stark contrast to the current reality where, she said, "not one of these villages exists any more."
The Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces and Ukraine's human rights commissioner stated that all civilians evacuated from the Kursk region were handed over to Russia. However, calls to the Kursk governor's office, Russia's human rights commissioner, and the Russian Red Cross for comment on the situation were not returned.