'We will become homeless' — Russians protest in Kursk Oblast over loss of compensation payments for property lost during Ukraine's incursion
Residents of Russia’s Kursk Oblast held a mass protest on Dec. 8 after regional authorities announced the cancellation of monthly payments for people who lost property during Ukraine's incursion into the region.
Ukraine’s seven-month-long operation in Kursk was launched in August 2024, during which Ukrainian forces seized around 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of Russian territory in an effort to divert Moscow’s attention from the eastern front and disrupt Russia’s plans to invade Sumy Oblast, which borders Kursk.
It continued until April 2025, when Russia — reinforced by an estimated 12,000 North Korean troops — launched a counter-offensive that forced Ukrainian forces out of the territory they had captured.
Since February 2025, residents whose property had been damaged or destroyed during Ukrainian operations in Kursk Oblast had been receiving monthly payments of 65,000 rubles (around $730), Meduza reported.
Governor Alexander Khinshtein announced on Dec. 6 that the program would be discontinued, saying the funds would be reallocated to "give the region’s economy a new boost."
According to the Moscow Times, residents from the Glushkovo and Sudzha districts gathered outside the Sudzha district administration building, demanding that the payments be reinstated.
Protesters also recorded a video appeal to Khinshtein and Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the removal of support would leave them unable to survive financially.
"Canceling these payments will finish us off. We will become homeless and buried in debt," the residents said in the message.
Meduza, citing the Telegram channel Pepel, reported that after the demonstration police detained one of the participants, Aliona Liskova, who had read the residents’ appeal aloud. She was allegedly taken to a police station in Kursk.
She was reportedly released the next day after questioning.
