Mikhail Gorbunov, head of the Committee for Regional Security of Kursk Oblast, was dismissed from the regional government following his request for retirement, Acting Governor Alexander Khinshtein announced during a government session on February 3.
In late December 2024, the Ploshchad media outlet, citing a source, reported that Mikhail Gorbunov had "faced serious criticism" over his handling of evacuations from border districts during the Ukrainian army’s incursion in August 2024.
Yevgeny Shestopalov, rector of the Svyato-Troitsky Church, claimed that even as the first Ukrainian tanks entered Sudzha, Gorbunov ordered local authorities to "stay put and avoid igniting panic."
Residents of Sudzha, the area that suffered the heaviest shelling during the incursion, fled either on their own or with the help of volunteers, criticizing the lack of a coordinated evacuation.
