What is happening in the Kursk region with conscript soldiers

Relatives of soldiers are trying to find information about their loved ones and reach the Ministry of Defense

In the Kursk region during the breakthrough of the Ukrainian Armed Forces there could have been from several dozen to several hundred conscripts. “Verstka” found relatives of seven soldiers serving in military service near the city of Sudzha, Kursk region , and also talked with volunteers who prepared lunches for conscripts, and found out what happened to the soldiers in the last four days.

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“Everyone has a different fate”

Dilyuza’s brother from Bashkortostan called her on August 5 and said that the command was taking away their phones because they were “awaiting an inspection.” He ended up in Sudzha in May 2024, where he was sent along with other conscripts after “training” in Nizhny Novgorod, Dilyuza told Vorstka. According to her, her brother was attached to military unit No. 12721 in the Bryansk region. At the position in the Sudzhinsky district where he was located, there were 25–30 conscripts and contract soldiers.

“No matter how many times they asked them to be taken to a quieter place, no, they fed them breakfast. On August 5, he called and said that on August 6 they would finally be taken away,” says Dilyuza. Dilyuza doesn’t know whether his brother was taken out, because after that call he stopped communicating.

The conscript sons of Ekaterina, Irina and Svetlana, who were in Sudzha, also stopped communicating several days ago. Svetlana’s son wrote to her on August 6 at 7:52 p.m. that he was leaving “for reinforcements.” “The last ones remained, the rest had already left for reinforcements. There were wounded,” Svetlana retells her son’s words.

Evgenia’s nephew from Novoaltaisk, called up for military service in the fall of 2023, was last in touch on the afternoon of August 7. He arrived in Sudzha in May-June 2024. When the Ukrainian army began shelling Russian positions in the Kursk region, he managed to tell his relatives that he was alive and not captured, but “many conscripts were captured.”

At the position where Evgenia’s nephew was located, there were 30 more conscript soldiers. According to him, now those who were not killed and captured are awaiting evacuation. “They are waiting in a safe place, if you can call it that. It's not safe anywhere now. Civilians are still being taken out by ordinary good people. Some people choose on their own. Disgrace. And no one remembered about the conscripts at all,” she says.

Volunteer Yana, who was preparing lunches for soldiers at the border in the Kursk region, also told Vorstka that some of the conscripts were being evacuated. “I am in touch with some conscript soldiers. They all have different fates. Some were evacuated,” she said.

“The military registration and enlistment offices answer us: “What nonsense are you talking about, they are not there?”

Yulia’s conscript son from Syktyvkar was called up in December 2023 and arrived in the Sudzhansky district in April 2024. He stopped communicating three days ago. Julia received the last message from him at 10 pm on August 5th. According to Yulia, her son told her little, because “it was impossible,” but he tried to write every day and said that lately they have been regularly shooting “birds” - reconnaissance drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Now Yulia doesn’t know what happened to her son, but she learned from the mothers of other conscripts that when the Ukrainian Armed Forces entered the Kursk region, the conscripts held the line and many were captured.

“When Guevo was captured, the boys from the encirclement wrote to their mothers and asked for help. But we can’t get through to Moscow [the Defense Ministry hotline] at all, the military registration and enlistment offices answer us: “What nonsense are you talking about, they’re not there, they just took their phones.” In general, they take us for fools. At the Kursk hospital they don’t give us information, they say that there is no time, there are a lot of wounded,” said Yulia.

“Those who were closer to the border died and were taken prisoner”

As Ksenia from Orenburg told Vorstka, her 20-year-old son Daniil has been in touch with her for the last few days and, according to her, is now in a hospital in Kursk. Daniil was called up for military service in November 2023, underwent “training” in Kovrov, Vladimir region, then, according to Ksenia, in May 2024 he was transferred first to the city of Klintsy, Bryansk region, and after that to Sudzha.

On August 6, the son wrote to Ksenia and reported that the Ukrainian army had begun shelling their position. Daniil also said that they wanted to transfer him and three other conscripts to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border for “foster care.” “It’s even worse there, they’ve already ruined everything there, and they also want to send us there for foster care. There, the dugout burned down with all our belongings and weapons, and they want to send us there,” he wrote to his mother (screenshots of the correspondence are at the disposal of “Vestka”).

As a result, Daniel was evacuated. The position where he was located was “in some abandoned factory,” his mother Ksenia told Vorstka. The conscripts were informed that they would be taken out, and they waited.

“There was no electricity. The military came in and started shooting, they thought they were Ukrainians. They ran away from this factory, then they came across other guys from another company, they took them out. As it turned out, it was our people who came in and shot in the air. They thought there were crests there. When I ran away, I seriously injured my arm, so now I’m in the hospital,” says Ksenia.

According to the woman, in the hospital her son wrote to her that all the conscripts who were taken with him were now alive: “But those who were closer [to the border], the son says, died, were taken prisoner.”

Ksenia is glad that “God had mercy” and her son did not participate in the hostilities, but she was outraged that the conscripts were so close to the border on the eve of the Ukrainian Armed Forces operation.

“What intelligence didn’t know that equipment was being assembled there? This is no longer an escalation of the conflict, but an invasion of Russian territory. When they were shelled all night on the 6th, they said in passing on TV that they had shot down 26 drones. And what was flying there from everything possible, there was silence about it,” she says.

How many conscripts could there be near Sudzhi?

Volunteer Yana, who prepared lunches for soldiers at the border, told Vorstka that there were at least 15 positions near Sudzha and almost every one had conscripts.

Relatives of soldiers with whom Vorstka spoke say that there were many strongholds in the Sudzhinsky district, and each had from 7 to 30 conscripts.

According to the mother of a conscript from Syktyvkar, Yulia, 52 relatives of conscripts who were in the Sudzha area have united and are now trying to find information about their loved ones and reach the Ministry of Defense.

A contract soldier who served in the Kursk region in March-May 2024 told Vorstka that there were several companies of conscripts on the border with the Sumy region of Ukraine: “The boys were standing there just after training. There were even some from Moscow and some fucked up people.” In addition to the conscripts, according to the interlocutor, there were also border troops and fighters of the Chechen Akhmat battalion in the Sudzha district.

Cover: Dmitry Osinnikov

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