MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax) - More than 8,000 Russian citizens have been recognized as victims of the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region, the Russian Investigative Committee said.
"The Russian Investigative Committee chairman was briefed on the work with persons affected by the aggression of the Kiev regime in the Kursk region. Investigators interviewed more than 8,000 persons staying at temporary accommodation centers and recognized them as victims," the committee said in a statement on Telegram on Thursday.
"Facts of the purposeful use of FPV drones and heavy machineguns by Ukrainian militants against civilians in the Kursk region were recorded," the statement said.
Russian Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin presented this data at a meeting in Donetsk, it said.
"More than 5,300 cases were opened against members of the Kiev regime's military and political leadership, members of radical nationalistic groups, and security and law enforcement officers" since 2014, it said.
"A preliminary investigation into 355 criminal cases with 496 defendants has been completed to date. Courts convicted 412 defendants in criminal cases and sentenced 32 of them to life imprisonment," the committee said.
"A total of 785 foreign mercenaries, who fought for the Ukrainian Armed Forces for remuneration, were held criminally liable," it said.
The Investigative Committee's Forensic Expert Center continues to evaluate the damage done to populated localities in the new territories and border areas of Russia by Ukrainian actions. "In 2024, the center's experts have conducted over 7000 comprehensive construction and technical evaluations, when 3,000 buildings and infrastructure elements which cost over 7.5 billion rubles to restore were examined," the committee said.