When Ukraine launched a ground assault into Russia’s Kursk region in August, President Vladimir Putin promised to quickly “dislodge” Kyiv’s forces and return normality to local residents. But nearly three months later, signs of the conflict are still found everywhere in the region’s capital, despite Russia claiming it is clawing back ground from Ukrainian troops. School buildings in Kursk have been fortified with sandbags, while many windows are sealed with tape due to the risk of Ukrainian attacks. Displaced people fleeing fighting near the border are regularly seen gathering at aid centres and some residents say they live in fear of aerial bombardment. “You cannot show fear to your children. Because if you are afraid and they realise it… they become scared,” said 36-year-old Margarita Kotova. The mother of three said her daughter’s school lessons were often interrupted by air raid sirens, and that state media was glossing over the impact of the conflict. “If you watch Russian and Kursk news, we are doing well, everything is great, everything is going according to some plan you don’t understand,” she told AFP. “We were not told for a long time what was happening on our border,” she said, adding that she now used social media to find out “how things really are”. Russia says it is “achieving the goals” of its two-and-a-half-year offensive in Ukraine, but this statement rings hollow for many in a city home to thousands of internally displaced people.