Russian soldier opens fire on family in Kursk border town after end of Ukrainian occupation

Earlier this week, a tragedy unfolded in Giryi, a small border town in Russia’s Kursk region recently retaken from Ukrainian forces after months of occupation. According to the outlet Pepel Media, a Russian soldier forced his way into a family’s home and began shooting. The incident reportedly occurred shortly after midnight on April 30. In the gunfire, 41-year-old Olesya Larina was killed, and her husband was wounded and later taken to intensive care. The couple’s children escaped unharmed, though eyewitnesses say the shooter held at least one of their daughters hostage for some period of time.

Sources told Pepel Media that the soldier behaved erratically and may have been under the influence of drugs. No law enforcement agency had acknowledged the incident publicly as of the time of publication.

Eyewitness Aleksandr Zuyev told journalists at Astra Media that he went to the Larins’ house after a phone call from their eldest son, Ilya. “My little sisters called and said someone killed our mom. Please go pick them up so they can stay with you,” Ilya reportedly told him.

When Zuyev arrived, the gunman was still inside the house. “I called out to the girls. And then I heard them saying, ‘Mister, mister, easy, easy, easy.’ And at that moment, from the very room where Olesya’s body was lying, I saw a gun pointed at me — and then he started shooting at me. I barely escaped the house,” Zuyev recounted.

He told Astra that he ran to a neighbor’s house and asked them to call the police. Military police reportedly arrived roughly 20 minutes later. Zuyev says the soldier loaded the family’s daughters into his car and tried to make a getaway, but military personnel soon caught and disarmed him.

Belovsky authorities ordered the district’s evacuation in August 2024 after the start of a major incursion by Ukrainian troops. Seven months later, in March 2025, Russian troops recaptured nearly all of Kursk. In late April, Russia’s top generals declared the Kursk region fully liberated, though Meduza analysis suggests that some Ukrainian forces might remain in certain border areas. Belovsky officials haven’t yet formally reopened the district to evacuated residents.