President Vladimir Putin announced a compensation plan for civilians in the Russian region attacked by Ukraine.
Russians “who need it” will be eligible for a one-time payment of 10,000 rubles, Putin said during a video call with acting Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov, according to the Kyiv Post translation.
That works out to about $115.
“Other damage also needs to be assessed,” Putin said.
Officials say about 3,000 people have been evacuated from Kursk, the western Russian border region that came under attack by Ukrainian forces this week.
Speaking to Putin, Smirnov said that extra trains were planned to take people to temporary housing and that he had set up a telephone helpline. Public sector workers would still get their salaries, he added.
To be clear, $115 won’t get you far in Russia, even when you factor in lower prices there. The Russian Statistical Office said the average monthly salary before taxes in 2022 was just over 71,000 rubles, or about $800.
Last fall, nearly half of Russians said their monthly salary was insufficient to cover basic needs. In addition, with the war raging, the country’s annual inflation rate is above 9%.
Despite earlier assurances from Smirnov that the situation was under control, reports from pro-Kremlin military bloggers suggest that some people faced disorderly evacuations, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
A civilian in Sudzha, a town seen as the target of the Ukrainian attack, told independent Russian media Meduza that she fled before an evacuation was organized.
“When I look at the news, our city no longer exists,” she said.
Images shared by Russian authorities, said to have come from the region, show destroyed homes.
Meduza reported that state-controlled media were given strict instructions to limit reporting on the attack, citing industry insiders.
The full extent of Ukraine’s surprise attack on Kursk remains unclear, but both Western and Russian commentators have said Russia appears to have been misled.
Russia said Wednesday that Ukraine had sent some 1,000 troops to the battle, supported by tanks, armored vehicles and air defenses.
On Thursday, the ISW estimated that Ukrainian troops had penetrated as far as 34 kilometers into Russian territory. It is unlikely that they have control of territory that far away.
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