Russian authorities move to evict war refugees from temporary shelters south of Moscow. Many have nowhere else to go.

In Tula region, Russia, authorities have announced plans to evict war refugees from temporary accommodation centers. Since 2022, these centers have provided shelter for refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine and Russia's border communities. Many of the residents are single mothers with children, elderly individuals, or people who have recently escaped the fighting and lack work or a place to call home. The war has continued in their original locations, with numerous homes and entire communities destroyed.

Residents of a Tula region temporary accommodation center expressed their distress over the impending eviction, pleading with authorities to spare them from being left on the street. They recounted how they became refugees and what they hope to achieve after being forced to leave the center. The parking lot near the health resort where the center is located is packed with cars displaying license plate codes from the annexed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics and the Kharkiv region, where Russia occupied during six months in 2022.

The refugees were initially housed in two buildings that were converted into a refugee accommodation center two years ago. They have praised the accommodations but have criticized the lack of proper food and the prohibition on cooking in their rooms. In May 2026, the Tula regional government issued a decree requiring all refugees to leave the temporary accommodation centers by September 1. However, only a few categories of residents were exempt from this requirement.

The refugees sought assistance from the regional Social Protection Ministry, the prosecutor's office, and Tula Governor Dmitry Milyaev, posting a video appeal to Vladimir Putin and receiving insincere responses to their complaints. Following the video release, officers from Russia's Federal Security Service visited the resort and conducted searches of the residents, questioning them about their support for the special military operation and their opinions on the president.

Despite repeated extensions to the eviction deadline, the residents were ultimately informed that they would no longer be granted further postponements. They were informed that they would have to leave the center without any official documents explaining the grounds for their eviction. Local officials claimed the residents were being evicted due to insufficient funding, but the refugees maintain that they have nowhere else to go.