The reality of the dispute that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched in Ukraine on February 22, 2022 is being felt more and more in Russia. Drone attacks have already reached Moscow, but especially the fighting has intensified in the border regions. The most affected is Belgorod, which has so far evacuated several thousand people, including hundreds of children.
Ukrainian artillery attacks repeatedly hit the city of Xebékino, with a population of 39,000, and nearby towns over the past week. The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, asked yesterday that the residents of the towns on the border with Ukraine that were attacked, and not only those in this district, leave their homes.
“It is the most important thing to preserve your life and those of your loved ones”, said the senior official on his Telegram channel, who estimated at more than 4,000 people installed in schools and university residences in the capital regional, turned into reception centers.
Gladkov told the local press that his region lives “in conditions of a real war”. Officially, Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operationâ€; neither war nor invasion, prohibited terms.
Civil authorities in Belgorod are moving the most vulnerable population, children, out of the region. Gladkov said on Saturday that he had accompanied about 600 minors from Shebekino and Graivoron districts to the cities of Yaroslavl and Kaluga. “The children of Xebékino are very worried about their hometown. When I was about to leave, they stopped me and started asking me questions with anxiety”, he declared.
According to the governor, shelling from the other side of the border continued during the night from Saturday to Sunday in Shebekino and Volokonovsky districts. They caused “a lot of damage”, but this time there were no casualties. Five people died on Friday. On Saturday, two women died in the towns of Bezliúdovka and Nóvaya Tovolzhanka.
Two armed groups of Russian volunteers who are fighting alongside the Ukrainian army with the declared aim of ousting Putin were said to be in the latter village yesterday. In a video posted on social media a man, who identified himself as the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps and posed next to a member of the Russian Freedom Legion, said they had captured two Russian soldiers.
He offered to release them if Gladkov would meet them. “You have the opportunity to communicate without weapons and take home two Russian citizens, ordinary soldiers that you and your political leaders have sent to the slaughterhouse,” said a joint statement released with the video.
The Russian Ministry of Defense assured that it had rejected the entry into Russian territory of an armed group in this area. The saboteurs tried to cross the river near Nóvaya Tavolzhanka, but the Russian military and the Federal Security Service (FSB) intercepted them with their artillery, and as a result the enemy was dispersed and retreated, the ministry said in a statement.
Nóvaya Tavolzhanka is located very close to Shebékino, which is about five kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
It is not the first attempted incursion from Ukraine into the region. These two groups claimed two more incursions in recent weeks, and highlighted the permeability of the Russian border.
The most serious raid took place on May 22, when they claimed to have taken control of a small town and reached the city of Grà ivoron. Russian authorities said the action resulted in two deaths and 13 injuries. An anti-terrorist operation was temporarily declared in the region and the Russian army needed artillery and aviation to, after more than 24 hours, expel them from their territory.
Ukraine disassociates itself from any attack on Russian territory. In the same way, he assures that he has nothing to do with these incursions. Russia, on the contrary, considers them terrorists and acting on behalf of Kyiv.
