In Belgorod in Russia, “around 300” residents were evacuated in the face of Ukrainian strikes
“Currently, about 300 residents of Belgorod, who decided to be temporarily evacuated, are now accommodated in reception centers in Stary Oskol, Gubkin and Korotchansky districts”further from the Ukrainian border, announced Monday the governor of the Russian oblast of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, in a video published on Telegram. The Russian city located near the border with Ukraine has been the target of several attacks in recent days attributed to the Ukrainian armed forces.
According to Mr. Gladkov, “during the last twenty-four hours, [les autorités locales ont] received 1,300 applications to send children from Belgorod to school camps outside the city, to other regions ». On Friday, the official suggested that residents who wished to do so evacuate the city. This measure, unprecedented for a large city in Russia, goes against the Kremlin, which has always strived to give the image, since almost two years of assault in Ukraine, that the conflict did not directly affect daily life. and the security of the Russians.
A strategy which, however, was shattered on December 30, when 25 people lost their lives in Belgorod in a Ukrainian attack, the deadliest civilian death toll on Russian soil since the start of Moscow’s offensive in its neighbor, the February 24, 2022. Since then, attacks by the Kiev army have increased, particularly using missiles.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have “intercepted” at 7 a.m. a Ukrainian S-200 aerial missile “above Belgorod oblast”. For his part, Vyacheslav Gladkov said he had contacted his counterparts in the oblasts of Voronezh, Kaluga, Tambov and Yaroslavl, to ” help “. The manager also said Monday morning ” a meeting “ about the bombings.
A sign of the growing concern, the Belgorod town hall also called on its residents on Friday, for the first time in two years, to secure their windows for ” to protect yourself “ possible shards of glass in the face of Ukrainian strikes. In this context, regional authorities have also postponed the start of the school year in Belgorod and surrounding areas, from January 9 to 19.