On September 18, Ukraine's military announced that Russia's counteroffensive in the Kursk region had been halted, with the situation now under control.
Since a surprise early August incursion, Ukraine has held approximately 1,300 square kilometers of Russia's Kursk region. Several thousand Russian civilians still reside in areas under Ukrainian occupation.
On September 8, TASS, the Russian state-owned news agency, citing anonymous sources "in the security forces," claimed that Ukrainian units consisting of mercenaries are distinguished by their particular cruelty toward civilians in the Kursk region:
"The most brutal Ukrainian units operating in the Kursk direction [in the Kursk region of Russia] are made up of mercenaries. ... The mercenaries are the ones who are the most brutal towards civilians."
The claim is unsubstantiated.
Several Western media outlets visited Ukraine-controlled areas in Russia's Kursk region, finding no evidence of civilian mistreatment by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or AFU.
Ukraine requested that the United Nations and the Red Cross verify the situation. Russian investigators lack access to these areas.
Ukraine has no mercenaries. Foreign volunteers sign contracts and officially join the AFU, similar to Ukrainian citizens.
Leading Russian state-controlled media, including TV channels RT, or Russia Today, Channel One Russia, the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, Duma TV, and news sites Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru, have published TASS report alleging extreme cruelty by foreign mercenaries in the Kursk region.
The TASS article was based on an anonymous source and lacks any verifiable evidence.
Meanwhile, several Western media outlets have visited Ukraine-controlled areas in Russia's Kursk region and reported no evidence of civilian mistreatment by the AFU.
The first was the Italian TV channel Rai 1, which on August 14 showed a report from Sudzha in the Kursk region of Russia, which is controlled by Ukrainian troops.
Rai 1 correspondent Stefania Battistini spoke with some local residents who remained in the city. When asked how the Ukrainian military treats them, one of the residents answered: "They were kind."
CNN journalists visited areas of the Kursk region under Ukrainian control in mid-August. They spoke with local residents who described the difficulties of life in combat conditions, but none of them spoke about the brutality of Ukrainian troops.
Russian Inna, 68, said that Ukrainian soldiers brought her and 60 other civilians sheltering in the basement "a lot of boxes [of] food." Another Russian, 90-year-old Efimov, told reporters that he wanted to flee to Ukraine.
Nick Connolly, a journalist for German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, interviewed two Russians, an adult son and an elderly mother, on August 16. They said that they had spent a week in the basement, hiding from the shelling, and they complained that Russian authorities did nothing to organize an evacuation. Ukrainian troops helped them leave the Kursk region and take refuge in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.
A DW correspondent visited the Kursk region in the second half of August. Connolly described dangerous and empty streets with unexploded grenades and other ordnance underfoot, and civilians hiding in basements from the shelling.
Connolly spoke with the remaining residents of the city, older and middle-aged people, who said that the Russian authorities had forgotten about them, and that they were "never given a chance to evacuate." None of the civilians complained about the brutality of the AFU.
On September 16, Ukraine requested that the U.N. and Red Cross help assist humanitarian efforts in Russia's Kursk region. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha emphasized Ukraine's commitment to international humanitarian law, stating the Ukrainian army ensures aid and safe passage for civilians.
The ICRC was asked to monitor compliance with humanitarian principles.
Since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, it has promoted the "foreign mercenaries" narrative. Ukraine legally enrolls foreign volunteers into its armed forces, however, paying them salaries, and making them regular troops, not mercenaries.