Sawt Falasteen - Russian family who fled border attack recall panic and chaos

On the night of August 6, the explosions became so loud their beds began shaking.

"Nobody knew anything," the 39-year-old hairdresser told AFP at a humanitarian aid centre run by the Orthodox Church in Moscow.

Ukrainian soldiers and armoured vehicles began pouring into the region in the early hours of that morning, mounting the biggest cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.

The operation came almost two and a half years into Russia's assault on Ukraine, which has seen Moscow capture large swathes of Ukrainian territory and strike Ukrainian cities.

But for many living in the border region, the attack came as a surprise.

"Drones started flying over the farms, over fields, over cars," said Marina.

"We couldn't get through to anyone to find out how to leave, and where to go," she said.

- 'Can't get out' -

When her village some 10 kilometres (six miles) away from the border was cut off from electricity and water, she knew they had to leave.

"Some said maybe it'll blow over, and so maybe they stayed till the last minute. Now they can't get out of there," she said.

Despite the risks, her partner Yevgeny decided to take her and their two children to the region's capital Kursk, a place that was still safe "for a few days", he thought.

They left their dog and cat behind.

As they saw the long line of cars on the road and deserted villages, they finally realised the scale of the attack under way.

The family managed to reach the regional capital Kursk in the early hours of the morning, where they were able to find accommodation in a centre for evacuees.

Their neighbours were not so lucky: they were injured by a drone as they fled.

"We hoped it would all be over soon," Marina said.

But on Sunday, debris from a downed Ukrainian missile fell on a residential building in Kursk, injuring 15 people, according to the authorities.

At least 12 civilians have been killed and more than 100 injured since the incursion began, according to authorities.

- 'Nothing left' -

The family went to Moscow, where their friends were waiting for them, four of them already living in a tiny studio flat in the north of the capital.

Now living eight to a room, Marina and Yevgeny have been desperately trying to find out what's happening in their home region.

Half an hour before meeting AFP at the Moscow aid centre, Yevgeny managed to contact a neighbour who confirmed the Ukrainian army was now occupying their village.

"They've moved into my father-in-law's house, which he'd just renovated, right next to the shop that they've already emptied," he said.

Ukraine has said it will open humanitarian corridors for civilians in the captured territory so they can evacuate towards Russia or Ukraine.

Russia says over 120,000 people have fled fighting in the region, but Yevgeny said many of his neighbours were stuck.

"Honestly, it's a tricky situation. Nobody's going to kick them out in a day and a half," Yevgeny told AFP of the Ukrainian army.

"The longer it goes on, the more time they have, the better their position is and the harder it will be to drive them out."

"In short, there'll be nothing left to live in. There's nothing left," he said.

A neighbour managed to let Marina and Yevgeny's cat and dog out the house, where they had been locked for several days.

"Now they'll have to find their own food in the village," he sadly confessed.

I.Saadi--SF-PST