Nobel winner Dmitry Muratov appeals for humanitarian corridor in Russia’s Kursk region

Dmitry Muratov, the Nobel Prize-winning former editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, has appealed for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to help evacuate residents of the town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region.

In an appeal published by Novaya Gazeta on Friday, Muratov reminded Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as the Red Cross, the Russian human rights commissioner and the UN Commission on Human Rights that there were at least 7,000 civilians, most of whom were either pensioners or seriously ill, in settlements that had come under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) since it launched its incursion into the region last month.

Muratov said both sides must guarantee the safe evacuation of civilians, adding that this should be organised immediately. “The only guarantee for safeguarding the civilian population is a humanitarian corridor. I ask you to assist in its immediate establishment,” he said.

The Russian Defence Ministry announced on Thursday that it had already regained control of at least 10 villages in the region as part of an ongoing counteroffensive. The head of the Kyiv Centre for Military and Legal Studies, Oleksandr Musiyenko, told Novaya Europe that this was an expected development for the AFU, and that the Ukrainians had stabilised flanks and organised logistics in preparation for a Russian counterattack.

“The Russian army is yet to launch an intensive attack on settlements seized by the AFU using its favourite weapon — heavy glide bombs,” a Russian military expert, speaking anonymously, told Novaya Europe. “Perhaps they hope to drive out the enemy without completely destroying villages and the town of Sudzha.”

Musiyenko added, however, that the AFU was “ready for defence” and that it was not “going to withdraw just like that”.