Sawt Falasteen - Russians speak of nerves and hope for peace as they shelter in Kursk

"It's nerves," he says at a temporary refuge for people displaced by the fighting in Russia's Kursk region.

Ukraine launched a shock ground assault into the border region last August, capturing swathes of territory and dozens of villages.

But in the past two weeks Kyiv has lost its grip in Kursk, ceding ground as Moscow prosecutes an intense counter offensive.

"Planes were dropping bombs near my vegetable patch. I nearly died because of bombs, mortar fire and drones," said 52-year-old Klimenko, a Russian sporting several gold teeth.

"God took pity on me and I survived by a miracle."

Klimenko left his home in the village of Zamostye near the Ukrainian border on Friday as Russian forces pushed to recapture land occupied by Ukraine since last year.

The Ukrainian offensive was a response to Russia's campaign against the country launched three years ago.

Hundreds of inhabitants have fled the fighting in recent days as Russian forces have re-taken a string of villages and the key town of Sudzha.

Several dozen displaced people are being housed in a sports complex in Fatezh, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kursk, the regional capital.

- 'Probably dead' -

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the area to lay down their weapons, while his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky has denied his troops are surrounded.

Since Wednesday "371 people have been evacuated from liberated areas, including 14 children," according to the region's interim governor, Alexander Khinshtein.

At the Fatezh sports complex, Elena, her daughter Ekaterina and grandson Egor have also sought shelter.

Elena, 63, said she had been given a blood pressure monitor by the Russian Red Cross, which is helping displaced people in the Kursk region.

"I've got high blood pressure," she says, putting her index finger to her forehead as if pointing to the worries that are weighing her down.

The family arrived from Sudzha on Friday after being evacuated by the Russian army.

Elena's husband Nikolai is missing.

His family have had no news of him since the beginning of the Kursk offensive last summer when they were moving from point to point in the Ukrainian-controlled area.

"Maybe he got scared and crawled away to hide. He's probably dead," said Ekaterina, 35, his daughter.

Nikolai is one of many missing.

In mid-February, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was working on some 50,000 cases of missing persons, both civilians and combatants, on both sides.

- 'Feel sorry' -

"I don't understand what the point of this war is," Ekaterina said.

The fighting has left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians dead or wounded in the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.

She said the family had been "treated well" by Ukrainian soldiers.

"We're really looking forward to peace, because we feel sorry for the Russian soldiers, the Ukrainian soldiers and everyone else," she said.

Suddenly, a robotic voice from a loudspeaker nearby blasts an announcement for the village.

"The air raid alert is now over," it said -- even though no initial air raid alert had been given.

The military situation in the Kursk region is a key issue at a time of intensive international diplomacy to try and put an end to the conflict.

Putin, who is to hold talks with US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday, has said he is not opposed to the 30-day truce proposed by the United States and backed by Ukraine.

The next steps may well depend on the liberation of this Russian border region that was, during World War II, the scene of the largest tank battle in history.

That battle, on August 23, 1943, ended in a Soviet victory over Nazi troops.

Q.Najjar--SF-PST