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 on, as air-raid sirens go off across the region's capital, residents continue to live in fear over prolonged fighting at the border despite Russia claiming it is clawing back territory from Ukrainian troops. "Everything is very hard, children are still afraid, if there is a siren or an explosion, children run straight to the toilet to hide, crying and screaming, they don't sleep at night," says local resident Tatiana Fomina. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES