Russian officials are accusing Ukrainian troops of killing civilians in the Kursk region, citing two videos of human remains. Here’s what we know.
What happened?
On January 18, the Russian state news agency TASS, citing a source from “Russian security agencies,” reported that the remains of several civilians had been found in the village of Russkoye Porechnoye in the partially occupied Kursk region. The village had been recaptured by Russian troops just a week earlier. According to the report, the bodies were discovered in the basements of two residential buildings.
TASS later released two videos: the first, apparently filmed by military personnel, shows two bodies in one basement, while the second shows five bodies in another. The following day, full versions of both videos appeared on the Telegram channel of Roman Alekhin, an advisor to the acting governor of the Kursk region, as well as several other channels.
- In the first video, lasting about 90 seconds, a Russian soldier with a red armband appears to ask another soldier to film two dead bodies in vertical format. At the start of the clip, a yard and a private house are visible in the background before the camera pans to the basement. The bodies lie on the floor, fully clothed, with their faces unrecognizable and showing signs of frostbite. One of the deceased has their hands bound with clothing. The soldiers comment that “both have their hands tied” and note “bruises and holes” in one person’s leg. The person filming states that he doesn’t know “what happened to them,” referring to the deceased. The other soldier then requests a silent panoramic shot of the basement.
- The second video, which lasts 3 minutes and 43 seconds, begins with two apparent Russian soldiers (at least one of whom is wearing a gas mask) descending into a cellar among the ruins of a residential building. Inside, they immediately find the bodies of four people and a dog. The people filming claim that these are “not Ukrainians” but “civilians,” stating that the bodies “have been lying [in the basement] for a very long time.” They describe two of the deceased as “grandmothers” and another as a “grandfather” (the footage does indeed appear to show elderly victims). The fourth person, according to the soldiers, has been “completely torn apart.” Toward the end of the video, they also conclude that remains of a fifth individual lie near the basement’s entrance, but no details about this person are mentioned.
The videos are available at this link. Warning: these clips contain graphic footage of dead bodies.
The reactions from Russia and Ukraine
Russian officials were quick to blame the deaths on Ukraine, with many commenting the same day the videos surfaced.
- Russian Foreign Ministry official Rodion Miroshnik claimed that the “mutilations” on the bodies of the deceased were “evidence of the true nature of Zelensky’s regime.” According to him, Ukrainian soldiers “threw grenades” into the basements as they retreated from Russkoye Porechnoye.
- Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova referred to the incident as “atrocities against civilians” in the Kursk village and described it as “confirmation of the terrorist nature of the Kyiv regime.”
Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal terrorism case, which carries penalties up to life imprisonment. According to the committee, Ukrainian soldiers killed “at least seven civilians who were sheltering in the basement of a residential house” in January 2025.
On January 19, Russian state media added further details, claiming the victims had been executed by Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) soldiers. According to the independent outlet Agentstvo, a segment on the Russian state TV network Rossiya 1 featured correspondent Stanislav Nazarov saying that the bodies of civilians in Russkoye Porechnoye were found “not only on the streets but also in basements.” He claimed that two victims from the first video, an “elderly man and woman,” had been “tied up and then executed” by Ukrainian soldiers. He also said that Russian marines found six additional bodies in a neighboring house, although the second video mentioned five bodies, not six.
On January 20, the Telegram channel Severny Veter, associated with the Russian army’s “Sever” operational group, published a comment from an anonymous soldier from the 4th battalion of the 352nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, led by a commander with the callsign “Strannik.” This soldier merged Miroshnik’s and Nazarov’s accounts, claiming that all the deceased civilians had been beaten and tortured by Ukrainian soldiers. Some were allegedly executed, while others were allegedly killed by grenades thrown into the basements.
The Ukrainian side has denied the accusations. Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), part of the National Security and Defense Council, called the videos alleging “AFU atrocities in the Kursk region” a continuation of Russia’s “disinformation campaign.” The Center called the footage “a typical practice of Kremlin-controlled media, which systematically accuses Ukrainian forces of violating the laws and customs of war.”
By midday on January 20, TASS published a new comment from a soldier of the 352nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, who stated that the number of civilian bodies discovered in Russkoye Porechnoye had reached nine. That evening, the agency released another video from the village featuring a brief interview with the aforementioned commander, “Strannik.” In the opening seconds of the video, the same ruins near the cellar where five bodies were found are visible. It’s unclear whether the footage was recorded before or after the bodies were discovered.
What do we know for sure?
Given the absence of independent observers in the area where the bodies were discovered, there’s currently very little we can say for sure.
- According to Meduza’s estimates, as of the start of 2023, 274 people lived in Russkoye Porechnoye.
- The village was captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in August 2024 and returned under the control of the Russian Armed Forces no later than January 11 — meaning one week before the first reports of civilian casualties emerged.
- Yelena Zhadanova, head of the Porechensky village council in the Kursk region’s Sudzhansky district, told the outlet aif.ru that when the Ukrainian military controlled the village, 39 residents remained. She said she doesn’t yet know who among them died.
- State media listed the village among those “literally erased from the face of the earth” during combat operations.
According to pro-Russian volunteer Roman Alekhin, responsibility for the civilian deaths lies with the soldiers of the 82nd and 225th brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The latter likely refers to the 225th Battalion, whose soldiers did indeed fight in the Kursk region, but in other areas. The 82nd Brigade defended Russkoye Porechnoye during Russian attacks in early January. Its soldiers shelled advancing Russian troops, carried out drone strikes on them, and counterattacked with armored vehicles. The presence of another unit, the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade, was also documented in Russkoye Porechnoye.
It’s impossible to determine the identities and cause of death of the people filmed by Russian soldiers based on the available footage. Most of their faces are not visible, and some appear frostbitten or disfigured. Under the current circumstances, they’re no clear independent evidence supporting the Russian authorities’ claim that the deaths were deliberate executions of civilians.
