The Russian government said Thursday it would allocate 1.27 billion rubles ($16.6 million) to cover three months of housing costs for nearly 21,000 families displaced as a result of Ukraine’s incursion into the southwestern Kursk region.
The move comes after displaced residents protested the Kursk regional government’s decision in December to end monthly compensation payments for those whose homes were badly damaged in fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
A decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday said a one-time financial assistance package would draw money from the federal government’s reserve fund and cover 99% of rent costs from January to March.
Kursk region Governor Alexander Khinshtein said the additional 1%, or 14.8 million rubles ($193,000), will come from the regional budget. He said the funds would address the backlog of payments for the end of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.
“The purpose is to co-finance expenditure obligations for measures to compensate citizens who have been forced to leave their homes in towns shelled by Ukrainian forces,” the decree signed by Mishustin states.
More than 150,000 people were ordered to evacuate towns and villages near the border after Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion in August 2024. Ukraine was forced to retreat in 2025 after Russian forces, backed by North Korean troops, launched a successful counteroffensive.
Since February 2025, some 114,000 displaced residents in the Kursk region have received various forms of state financial support, including monthly payments of 65,000 rubles ($800).
Around 112,500 people were eligible for payments in November, which totalled 82 billion rubles ($1.19 billion). That amount is nearly the same as the Kursk region’s entire budget for 2025.
In Wednesday’s decree, the Russian government said it had covered 5 billion rubles ($65.2 million) in housing rental expenses for more than 25,000 families between November 2024 and December 2025.
According to the statement, Russia’s Construction Ministry has been tasked with overseeing the targeted use of the latest $16.6 million aid package.
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