Ukraine volunteers evacuate residents near Russia's embattled Kursk region

By Vitalii Hnidyi

SUMY REGION, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian volunteers evacuated dozens of residents, and their pets, from northern Sumy region in anticipation of more Russian attacks in response to Ukraine's cross-border military incursion into the Kursk region.

The residents trundled toward the pick-up point, their overflowing carrier bags loaded onto carts, as Russian forces intensified aerial guided bomb attacks.

Svitlana Linova, pushing her bicycle with her cat Murchik in its carrier, was in no doubt it was time to go.

"There was such heavy shelling yesterday from the other side of the border," she said. "The lamp and ceiling started to fall."

She said she had untied her neighbours' dogs and let them go free when it became apparent they would not be returning anytime soon.

Sumy Governor Volodymyr Artiukh ordered 28 villages evacuated from a 10-km (six-mile) zone hugging the border. National police said on Friday that 20,000 would have to leave.

Evacuee Serhiy Kozak said residents of the eight houses making up his village of Basivka had seen enough of war, launched when the Kremlin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

"Some houses have been hit twice, others three times," he said. "There was another hit around this in the morning and I jumped out. And just before four, another hit. Panes of glass shattered. What else is there to say?"

Kozak said the latest attacks involved planes flying in over the border from Kursk region. "They dropped a load of ammunition at Basivka, diverted and left. The same with helicopters, they fly over the border and start shelling."

The evacuees, many relying on canes for support, were helped into mini-vans by volunteers in bullet proof vests and taken to reception centres outside the danger zone. Pets were hoisted in alongside them, one dog stuffed into a small carrier bag.

Ukrainian officials have remained largely silent about the incursion into Kursk region, but unofficial reports from both sides note that four days into the operation they are advancing.

Volunteer Vlad Polyansky from the group SOS East, said 24 people were picked up and transported throughout the day on Friday.

"With the operation going on in Kursk region, hardly anyone would think that Moscow is going to like this," he said. "We expect the shelling of border areas to get worse."

(Reporting by Vitalii Hnidyi, Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Miral Fahmy)