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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. I have wanted to visit you for a long time, to talk about your work and thank you for it, to learn more about the way it is organised and ask a question that would only be natural in these circumstances: what can we do to help and support you? What regions are you from?

Remark: Mr President, we are not all from the Kursk Region. Some people here represent Kaluga, the Lugansk People’s Republic, Ryazan, Moscow and Donetsk. All of us present here are people who stepped up to help in whatever way we could [as soon as the incursion began] last August because we could not bear to remain uninvolved. Some delivered humanitarian aid, others helped evacuate residents, and still others offered first aid training, which was especially relevant in the areas that were under fire. The people you see here today are those who truly did the work. I would suggest starting with Denis, from our National Student Rescue Corps. He is from Kursk.

Denis Soldatov: Good afternoon. My name is Denis Soldatov and I currently head the response centre of National Student Rescue Corps. The response centre was established on August 7, 2024, mainly to handle applications from internally displaced persons. We process these applications and deliver humanitarian aid in a targeted manner. We receive requests from districts, and we supply them with hygiene and food kits. Military units apply for supplies, and they come to pick up what we have allocated. Over the entire period of operation, we have delivered 600 batches of humanitarian aid on request. We hand them over directly to the recipients, going so far as to deliver the packages to their apartments.

Recently, we have been sending teams to border areas jointly with the Popular Front, to help improve thermal envelopes of buildings and carry out other emergency repairs, as well as to clean up courtyard areas. We have been cooperating with the Kursk Region’s emergency rescue service from day one, helping put out landscape fires and participating in traffic accidents response and breaking down doors. Over this period, we have made more than 50 trips. This is the way we work, every day since last August, just doing what we must.

We also have volunteers from different regions joining us for various periods of time. Overall, we have had people from 70 regions work here. This is a humanitarian mission, with 600 people. Some come for two weeks; others stay for a month or more. One group was particularly remarkable – they came from Yekaterinburg in early August and stayed until the end of November. Even the fact that Yekaterinburg is not at all close to the Kursk Region did not stop them. They were willing to travel so far from home to help. I regard them as heroes who realised that their help was needed here and now. That is why it is so memorable.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Denis, how many people are you providing support to now?

Denis Soldatov: Ten people work for us every day, but we invite more volunteers if we need a group to go somewhere.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, but how many people are you providing support to now? Howe many people or households?

Denis Soldatov: We deliver aid to seven addresses every day, but the figure sometimes goes up to 16. Our monthly operation is split into three parts. The number of requests is small at the beginning of the month but grows to 16 by the middle and then goes down again by the end of the month. The majority of those we help are people who have become internal refugees since August [last year], as well as families with disabled persons and large families, who cannot come to the pickup location, so we take the aid to them. That is how we operate.

Vladimir Putin: How do you bring aid to them?

Denis Soldatov: It is targeted delivery by car.

Vladimir Putin: Who provides the vehicles?

Denis Soldatov: The Popular Front.

Alexander Kasaurov: Good afternoon, Mr President. I am from the Lugansk People’s Republic. I am a student who has been discharged from the army. I once told you about our operation in Avdeyevka, where we also worked. Today, I am head of a humanitarian mission for the Popular Front’s Youth wing. We have been working round the clock in the new regions for quite some time, including in Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson. We are working there on a regular basis. We came here in August, at the start of the first session of the Rubezh forum. Initially, we helped evacuate people. Regrettably, two of our men have been killed here. We evacuated local people together with the Patriot centre, which helped evacuate our volunteer, Fyodor Gerachshenko, when he was wounded.

We have been working here since then. We have organised several pickup locations, work at the warehouse round the clock, and also send volunteers to hospitals. Our current focus is on the border areas. We move in the footsteps of our military after the area has been cleared of mines and provide assistance, helping to insulate houses against cold weather to prevent further deterioration of apartments, clean the adjacent territory, remove debris, and try to restore the monuments which have been damaged by the Ukrainian armed forces.

There is a problem: after we insulate houses from the cold, the Ukrainian forces target them again because they probably see us working there. They send a drone there two or three days after we complete the insulation. This has happened to several houses in the Bolshesoldatsky District. They have also attacked monuments, including the [Yak-50] military plane monument in the Belovsky District. It seemed like there was nothing more to destroy there, but they delivered another strike after we helped tidy up the place. We cannot understand their logic, but we will continue working anyway. Nobody will stop us.

Vladimir Putin: We can see who we are fighting against, especially when they destroy WWII monuments. This gives us reason to say that these people have the ideology of neo-Nazism. Indeed, how else would you describe this? That is the case, and they would even take second place in an idiots’ contest. You wonder why? Because they are idiots. They expose themselves for what they are by doing this.

Pavel Polyansky: Good afternoon, Mr President. My name is Pavel Polyansky. I am a native of Kursk and by profession I am a surgeon. The Popular Front invited me to this meeting because I have worked with them for a long time.

My job is as follows. A group of enthusiastic volunteers and I established and organised the work of stabilisation points intended to receive wounded soldiers at the outset of the invasion. When all these events began in the Kursk Region…

Vladimir Putin: A stabilisation point?

Pavel Polyansky: Yes, medical stations for the wounded.

Vladimir Putin: Where were they located?

Pavel Polyansky: We set them up 20 to 40 kilometres from the line of contact, which means in the direct vicinity. The wounded were brought there from the battlefield, received initial treatment and were stabilised − hence the term “stabilisation point” − before being transferred to a health facility, a hospital. Before the Defence Ministry deployed its capacities to the full, a great many people arrived here: doctors, nurses and even non‑medical volunteers who took on medical tasks. Their contribution was immense.

These improvised stations handled over 3,000 wounded, enabling many soldiers to return to duty and saving countless lives.

Vladimir Putin: Both civilians and military personnel?

Pavel Polyansky: Primarily military, about 90 per cent, but anyone brought in received assistance. Fewer civilians were treated, as many had managed to evacuate, to leave the area. But the general flow included everyone – civilians, soldiers…we did not discriminate. In terms of percentages, the military, the combatants made up 90 percent of the total.

Vladimir Putin: How did you organise the medical supplies?

Pavel Polyansky: Through volunteers. An enormous number of people across the country responded, and convoys of humanitarian aid arrived early on. We never ran short of medical supplies.

Our most significant achievement was establishing coordination with the Ministry of Healthcare of the Kursk Region and the Ministry of Defence, ensuring everything aligned in an orderly manner.

Fortunately, these measures later became unnecessary as the responsible structures began managing the work fully, deploying all necessary resources. Consequently, the volunteers who had been involved either transitioned to hospitals to assist and gain experience; some found it rewarding and continued in this field.

Personally, I signed a contract with the BARS – KURSK volunteer formation. My contract has now ended, and I am currently on leave. I intend to return to the role of senior medical officer. Thus, we continue our efforts in these matters regardless.

Vladimir Putin: Please share a few words – how do you evaluate the medical service itself?

Pavel Polyansky: I am the senior medical officer.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I understand, and you have superiors above you. Are you satisfied with how it is organised?

Pavel Polyansky: Yes, I am satisfied. The head appointed by the Ministry of Defence, as well as the head of the group of forces – we have complete mutual understanding, and everything with the Ministry of Defence is absolutely fine; any issue is resolved with a single call. I am pleased. The difference between how it was at the beginning and how it is now is colossal. Most importantly, I would like to note that the training and methodological base is expanding. Unfortunately, war is a driver of medicine. Or perhaps fortunately – it depends on one’s perspective. From my perspective, the base is expanding, and a significant amount of experience is being applied, along with many innovations. This saves lives and preserves health.

Vladimir Putin: Are you in contact with other medical institutions?

Pavel Polyansky: Yes, I am in contact with all of them. The Kursk Regional Clinical Hospital provides us with all possible assistance. Chief Physician Mikhail Lukashov resolves any issue. What I mean is, everyone responds – there is no need even to call. It is simply: “Gentlemen, come over.” Everything is arranged, for our unit and others as well. Truly, I note only positive developments. There are no negatives.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Ivan Gamov: Good afternoon, Mr President. My name is Ivan Gamov, and I am a volunteer with the youth wing of the Popular Front in the Kursk Region. There was a heavy drone strike recently on our region that damaged several apartment blocks. Our main command centre received a request …

Vladimir Putin: Are you talking about an attack that happened in the early hours of May 7?

Ivan Gamov: No, the attack took place on May 14. Our main command centre received a request for urgent assistance. We immediately deployed there, established a local command centre, set forth our objectives and started helping people.

Our tasks varied. We helped people whose homes were uninhabitable to gather belongings and relocate temporarily to an emergency reception centre. We delivered humanitarian aid, including food parcels and hygiene kits to those in need.. The most rewarding part of this work has been the gratitude of the people – that is the greatest motivation for volunteers.

Vladimir Putin: Besides your volunteer work, what else do you do?

Ivan Gamov: I am a first-year student.

Vladimir Putin: Where do you study?

Ivan Gamov: Southwestern State University.

Vladimir Putin: What is your field of study?

Ivan Gamov: Geodesy.

Vladimir Putin: So your volunteer work is purely by the call of your heart?

Ivan Gamov: Yes. When the conflict began on August 6, I went straight to the warehouses. Honestly, I thought I would only volunteer until the new term began on September 1. But I became so involved that I could not stop. In addition to rapid‑response deployments, I also help at the humanitarian warehouse on Deriglazov Prospekt, packing food kits. I try to participate as fully as possible and help wherever I am needed.

Vladimir Putin: And what about your family? Who do you live with?

Ivan Gamov: I live with my mother.

Vladimir Putin: What is her name?

Ivan Gamov: Yevgenia.

Vladimir Putin: Please give her my warm regards – seriously, no irony. One’s upbringing starts at home, and that includes yours.

Anton Khailov: Good afternoon, Mr President. Anton, Kostroma Region. The first head of the humanitarian mission in the Kursk Region from the United Russia Young Guard. Since the start of the incursion, we have been helping with evacuation and delivery of humanitarian aid to the region. I led the mission for just two months, and I have a story from that time. We had to deliver two women of very advanced age to their distant family in Zheleznogorsk – a mother who was 102 and her daughter, 86. Unfortunately, the mother was bedridden and barely alive. Honestly, we thought she would not be able to make it. However, we brought both of them safely to their relatives; they are both fine. After that incident, I made a decision and signed a contract with the GROM Cascade UAV unit. Until May 15, I was the senior operator of a UAV crew in the Bryansk theatre of war. On May 15, the contract ended, and I came to Kostroma. Now I am thinking about what to do next, whether to extend the contract or do something else.

Vladimir Putin: Have you become bored?

Anton Khailov: Actually, I have. And then I got a call and was asked to go to the Kursk Region again. That made me happy because I really had a problem adapting to the local climate in Kostroma. The weather conditions are so much nicer here. So now I am deciding between finding some permanent occupation in Kostroma anyway, or delivering humanitarian aid, which I think I will continue to do, or maybe UAV specialists are still in demand, and I will sign the contract again.

Vladimir Putin: They most certainly are. It is one of the key capabilities now.

Anton Khailov: Also today, there was some good news for my crew. We used to work in the vicinity of Shostka and Glukhovo, and sometimes we covered the road to Rylsk near Krupets. My fellows from the crew shared today that nearly 100 enemy personnel were blanketed by an Iskander in the village of Shostka.

Vladimir Putin: That was not a UAV though, was it?

Anton Khailov: No, but they had been spotted by our intelligence.

Vladimir Putin: I know. They are trying to advance towards our border. Well, that is a separate issue.

Denis Sychov: Good evening. Denis Sychov, from Kyrgyzstan, but I live in the Kursk Region now.

Vladimir Putin: From Kyrgyzstan?

Denis Sychov: Yes. I am a native of Kyrgyzstan, but I live in the Kursk Region, and I am a combat veteran. I fought in the North Caucasus; I head the Combat Brotherhood in the Kurchatov District and the city of Kurchatov, and I am also the commander of Kurchatov’s territorial defence.

We have been building fortifications since 2022, and we continue to do so.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you for that. No one backed down; everyone continued to work.

Denis Sychov: Everyone continued to work, and we still do. At present, we are also building bathhouses and shelters for our military. We have helped with stabilisation centres, worked with paratroopers, marines, and everyone who contacted us. We also delivered building materials because not everyone would venture there.

Our other mission was to evacuate Cargo 200 and Cargo 300. To date, our organisation has evacuated several thousand; the wounded were transported to hospitals, and we are still helping.

Vladimir Putin: How many people are in your team?

Denis Sychov: We have 270 people, all of them volunteers. Most of them are veterans. In fact, everyone is contributing. This is teamwork. So, naturally, one person cannot do it alone. Only a team can do it; we are stronger together. This means victory will be ours, absolutely.

Vladimir Putin: We are a team.

Denis Sychov: Yes, we are, exactly.

Yevgeny Karachevtsev: Good afternoon, Mr President, Mr Kiriyenko, Mr Khinshtein. I am priest Yevgeny Karachevtsev, rector of the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in the city of Kurchatov.

In 2022, when the whole country was engaged in helping those who were stationed in units, including along the state border in the Kursk Region, providing assistance, food, and a little help in everyday life, there arose a need for sterile dressing material. Production of sterile dressing material for operating rooms was organised at the church in Kurchatov, Kursk and Zheleznogorsk.

Together with a group of Alpha veterans, we started making deliveries to field hospitals along the state border, during the evacuation of the injured, and subsequently along the Zaporozhye and Kherson directions. This group processes almost 300 kilometres of gauze per year. All these funds are collected from personal savings. Elderly women sew these dressing materials on old, Soviet-era machines, folding them neatly, all at their own expense.

Today, as the enemy has stepped onto our land, there is an urgent need for support from the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) with the supplies we have long been working on. Fortunately, this effort has been more or less organised. We continue to provide assistance, particularly along the Zaporozhye and Kherson directions, where this support is most needed.

In collaboration with evacuation teams, we have also developed individual first-aid kits. We are now working to improve them further, specifically by switching to elastic bandages, allowing for quicker and more effective application of these kits in the field.

You asked earlier how one can help. Above all, there is a shortage of materials. There are people willing and ready to contribute, but the resources are lacking. For example, when we began our work, a roll of gauze cost around 9,000 rubles in Ivanovo. Today, that same roll costs nearly 17,000, or nearly double the price. All expenses are covered by us, through support from local churches, among others.

I would like to thank the people I worked with in Kurchatov when events began to unfold here – not dozens of kilometres away, but within mere kilometres. Small sabotage groups were already engaged in rifle skirmishes, particularly in the initial days. Evacuation points were organised in churches. Provisions were secured for several days in the event that the population needed to take shelter, as these churches are situated within large residential high-rise areas. We were ready to receive people.

With the involvement of the Popular Front – for which we extend special thanks – we conducted training sessions on administering first aid to staff and clergy working in the churches, with a focus on the unique challenges of blast injuries, severe fractures, and complex traumas. State Duma Deputy Dmitry Khubezov visited us and participated in these efforts.

In essence, we continue this work. There is a prevailing belief that wars are ended by priests and teachers. We are preparing for a peaceful life. We hope that our assistance, participation in rehabilitation, and support for the lads returning from combat operations – as well as civilians in need of help – will remain necessary.

Vladimir Putin: The assistance of clergy is always in demand, both in peacetime and during times of severe trials. Always. I would like to highlight that clergy from nearly all our traditional faiths are, quite literally, at their posts in the field. They render assistance to individuals both on the front lines of combat — I reiterate, across all confessions — and in the rear, further from the hostilities. This support is exceedingly sought after because the most critical assurance of any success, particularly in challenging times and during combat operations, is an individual’s inner resolve and preparedness to undertake the actions expected by the Motherland.

Here, of course, motivation assumes a paramount role. Certainly, equipment and ammunition are indispensable, but inner motivation remains of primary importance. In this context, the role and significance of spiritual mentors cannot be overstated.

Yevgeny Karachevtsev: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Regrettably, I am aware that there have been losses among the clergy as well.

Thank you very much.

Alexander Sidorenkov: My name is Alexander Sidorenkov, and I am head of the humanitarian mission of the Young Guard of United Russia in the Kursk Region. In early August 2024, we began our work, like all our colleagues. During this time, more than 470 activists from 47 regions of the Russian Federation have taken part in the humanitarian mission’s activities. We have been engaged in evacuations, the operation of temporary accommodation centres, and border hospitals. We have consistently organised fieldwork in the border region. This was before the ban.

Mr Khinshtein, I am sorry. Mr Khinshtein scolds us like a father for going there, because he is concerned. But now we are not violating anything. When it was possible to go to Sudzha, we evacuated 22 people and provided them with bread and water. In total, we evacuated over 150 people from the Glushkovsky and Korenevsky districts.

There have been various incidents. On December 20, 2024 we came under heavy fire during heavy shelling and found ourselves at the epicentre. We managed to take cover behind a building. Those behind us were not as fortunate; they did not make it. We returned to the shelled zone and evacuated five people who were wounded. Sadly, we lost one of them.

But when we arrive in the border regions with humanitarian aid for both civilians and soldiers, we look into their eyes and see deep gratitude. Words cannot express what these people have endured. We know this is our land, our Motherland. Our cause is just, and victory will be ours. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Khinshtein, you are right to keep the teams grounded. It is clear. But, if there is a tragedy, do not forget about their families.

Acting Governor of the Kursk Region Alexander Khinshtein: Of course. If tragedies like this happen, we implement all regional support measures and try to assist in every way possible.

As for the restrictions, the concerns are absolutely justified: it is extremely dangerous to be in that area today, from every perspective. The territory is mined, and the enemy continues intense shelling. A distance of just 25 to 30 kilometres from the frontline makes it a high-risk zone in every sense.

Vladimir Putin: I would like to return to what I mentioned earlier. Regional support measures for families are certainly important. But if any assistance at the federal level is needed, raise the issue immediately. Agreed?

Alexander Khinshtein: Of course.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Yekaterina Nelepina: Good afternoon, Mr President. My name is Yekaterina Nelepina, and I am head of the We Are Together regional headquarters. I would like to tell you about our activities in the Kursk Region.

The headquarters is actively working with IDPs. We began our efforts in August, working out of the Kursk State Circus, with its former Director Natalya Leonova. We worked there for about two months, taking in the first IDPs that arrived there. It turned out to be one of the largest humanitarian aid distribution points. The aid came to us, and we distributed and handed it out. We received support from the administration.

Later, we formed a core of volunteers who had lost everything. Now I have about 15 people working at the headquarters who are IDPs.

Vladimir Putin: Are they internally displaced persons themselves?

Yekaterina Nelepina: They are IDPs themselves. They came to work at the circus back then, and now they are working at the headquarters and at other distribution points. They have lost everything.

The situation was very difficult when we were working back in August and September. A woman volunteer came to me, sat down and said: “I have no home. I have just renovated it, and now I have no home. I have a daughter. I do not know where to live.” And we said, go and work there, work here, do work. And now I have a man working with me, for example, he is over 60, who was under occupation for seven months, and we barely got him out. His wife died there, and his daughter asked us to help him, and now he works with me, because the daughter works at her job, and it is clear that he can feel bad on the 17th floor in a two-room flat. And now, thanks to the fact that he is helping us at the headquarters, working with people, he is, of course, psychologically holding on.

Aid comes to us from all regions of the country. Of course, thanks to the Russian Post. When we had free parcels, there was more humanitarian aid. Now we have come to an arrangement with the Popular Front and another organisation who send us aid. Silver volunteers, volunteers from all regions. I would like to mention Yamal, Khanymey, a small museum, they weave nets, they send us what we need, things like gauze, bandages, and dry soap. They are silver volunteers, aged over 55. Orenburg Region, Buguruslansky District, Mikhailovka Village, provides the We Are Together headquarters with parcels, five to seven parcels weekly. And I know of four other places where they send parcels. Inter-community library. And they send what we need, and then we pass it on to civilians, internally displaced persons.

We have received humanitarian aid from We Are Together, and we have been distributing it through our system. And to the military – certain units send their people to pick up what we have for them at their request. Thanks to the Kursk Region administration, we have a free storeroom where we can keep the supplies and which also houses our headquarters. We really appreciate their help.

Recently, a large batch arrived from Tyumen. To date, we have already transferred part of the cargo to the Kurchatov area and other regions that need what we have.

We also support the operation of the Potok multifunctional centre, which is part of the Kursk Region administration. It is a one-stop-shop system, which is new. Volunteers who work there answer the hotline, and help the callers together with the Ministry of Education. Suppose a displaced person calls, who has a problem. They are immediately connected with a specialist; they do not need to apply in person. People call from places like Rylsk and Glushkovo, which are a long way to travel. So we connect the caller with a consultant who would know what payments they are entitled to, could advise on healthcare and social security issues, whatever the caller is interested in.

People also call the hotline number for our headquarters. Some call to tell us that they can bring humanitarian aid; others say they need humanitarian aid.

Our volunteers work at the humanitarian aid sorting and distribution stations in the city of Kursk and at our municipal centres, which we have in 33 municipalities.

Vladimir Putin: So is the system operating well, or do we need to do something to help?

Yekaterina Nelepina: Yes, we have put up a good system. We needed a warehouse, but that problem was solved thanks to Mr Khinshtein. The Red Cross provided us with phones free of charge, I mean the physical devices and mobile connection for the hotline. These problems have been taken care of.

What we need is supplies that we can distribute to help people.

Vladimir Putin: I see.

Remark: Good afternoon. The federal headquarters of the Combat Brotherhood volunteer company. We, activists of the volunteer company, got the news that the Kursk Region has been invaded when we were in Rzhev area. We hold annual Memory Watch events there – in fact, our organisation was founded as a search movement.

Since the beginning of the special military operation, the Memory Watch project has been reformatted as a forum. We also conduct basic military training and tactical medicine, which paid off when in the first days of the special military operation, our activists entered the not yet liberated Mariupol and provided assistance to local residents.

So we asked the participants at the forum – we gave them the unpleasant news – if they wanted to go to the Kursk Region to provide possible assistance right away. The number of hands raised was much greater than the number of seats in available vehicles. We selected the bravest guys and set off here.

Here, a great many remarkable stories have unfolded – ones that did not occur in Donbass. The region is unique; the people are unique. Here, we came upon the realisation of how brutally the enemy desecrates our monuments, the scale of vandalism confronting our memorials. This occurs not only in Ukraine itself but also in other unfriendly countries.

In the run-up to the 80^th anniversary of the Great Victory, our movement had compiled a register, a catalogue of all desecrated and demolished monuments. Allow me, please – I have this catalogue with me, and I would like to present it to you. Please review it. It was produced by activists from the volunteer corps. This is not some commissioned printing house project. The entire internet was scoured to select genuine, living photographs. For the purpose of preserving cultural heritage, this is an authentic, living catalogue.

Vladimir Putin: Well, it is clear why this is being done: to erase memory, the historical memory of who we are, where we came from. And why? To ensure there is no future. That is how elementary it all truly is. And to erase the memory of those who look towards Russia.

This is profoundly important work. Thank you.

We have to conclude. In closing, I would like to thank you. I began with words of gratitude – and I will end with them. Here is what I want to say.

You are engaged in a most vital and noble endeavour. Noble and vital. And judging by what you have shared here today, it is, regrettably, also perilous work.

Yet I believe you will agree with what I now say. Your lives, God willing, will be long; each of you will advance further, will achieve certain results in your lives. But what you are doing now – in this complex situation for the territory, the region, and the country – may remain with you for the rest of your lives as perhaps the most vivid chapter to which you had direct connection: service to both country and people.

And Pavel Polyansky – here beside you is Denis Sychev. Denis said: “We are a team.” So we, together, are a team, and the entire country today is one team. Herein lies the unequivocal success of all our undertakings. These are the prerequisites for achieving all our objectives. I am confident this will be so. As I observe and listen to you: strong, driven individuals – crucially, driven by positivity. Thank you very much.

Remark: Thank you.