The reality of the contest that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched in Ukraine on February 22, 2022 is being felt more and more in Russia. Drone strikes have already reached Moscow, but above all fighting has intensified in the border regions. Worst affected is Belgorod, which has so far evacuated several thousand people, including hundreds of children.
Ukrainian artillery strikes repeatedly hit the city of Shebekino, with a population of about 39,000, and nearby towns over the past week. The governor of Belgorod, Viacheslav Gladkov, asked yesterday that the residents of the border towns with Ukraine attacked, and not only those of that 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 that more than 4,000 people are living in schools and university residences in the regional capital, converted into centers of reception.
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 operation," not war, not invasion, vetoed terms.
The Belgorod civil authorities are moving the most vulnerable population, children, out of the region. Gladkov said on Saturday that he had accompanied some 600 minors from Shebekino and Graivoron districts to cities in Yaroslavl and Kaluga. “The children of Shebékino are very worried about their hometown. When I was going to leave, they stopped me and began to ask me questions anxiously, ”he declared.
According to the governor, the shelling from the other side of the border continued on the night from Saturday to Sunday in the Shebekino and Volokonovski 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 goal of ousting Putin claimed to be in the latter town yesterday. In a video posted on social media, a man, who identified himself as the commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps and posed with a member of Russia's Freedom Legion, said two Russian soldiers had been captured.
He offered to release them if Gladkov would meet with them. “You have the opportunity to communicate without weapons and take home two Russian citizens, foot soldiers that you and your political leadership sent to slaughter,” read a joint statement posted alongside the video.
The Russian Ministry of Defense assured that it had refused the entry into Russian territory of an armed group in that area. The saboteurs tried to cross the river near Nóvaya Tavolzhanka, but the Russian military and the Federal Security Service (FSB) hit them with their artillery and, as a result, "the enemy was dispersed and withdrew," the ministry said in a statement. .
Novaya Tavolzhanka is 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 have claimed responsibility for two other incursions in recent weeks, highlighting the permeability of the Russian border.
The most serious incursion occurred on May 22, when they claimed to have taken control of a small town and reached the city of Graivoron. Russian authorities said the action led to two deaths and 13 injuries. An anti-terrorist operation was temporarily declared in the region and the Russian army needed artillery and aviation to expel them from their territory after more than 24 hours.
Ukraine disassociates itself from any attack on Russian territory. In the same way, it claims to have nothing to do with these incursions. Russia, on the contrary, considers them terrorists and that they act on behalf of Kyiv.
